MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s defense minister says the military will form 20 new units in the country’s west this year to counter what he described as a growing threat from NATO. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Monday pointed at a growing number of flights by U.S. strategic bombers, deployments of NATO warships near Russia’s borders and increasing drills by alliance forces. He charged that such Western actions “destroy the international security system and force us to take the relevant countermeasures.” Last month, a massive troop buildup in Russia’s south and southwest near the Ukrainian border worried Ukraine and the West, which urged Moscow to withdraw its forces.
