EXPLAINER: What’s behind Russia-Ukraine tensions?

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Ukrainian and Western officials are worried about a Russian military buildup near Ukraine. They fear it could signal plans by Moscow to invade its ex-Soviet neighbor. Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 after the country’s Moscow-friendly president was driven from power by mass protests. Russia also cast its weight behind a separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s east. Russia rejects allegations of having aggressive intentions as part of a Western smear campaign. It’s unclear whether the Russian troop concentration heralds an imminent attack or represents an attempt to persuade the U.S. and its NATO allies to refrain from sending soldiers and weapons to Ukraine and drop plans for its eventual integration into NATO.