What are Vladimir Putin’s military intentions in Ukraine?
Only he can say
A BATTALION TACTICAL GROUP (BTG) is a Russian army unit which consists of 800 or so troops, sometimes rather more, and most of the armour, artillery and air defences they need in order to fight. When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2014, stirring up separatism among Russian speakers in Donbas, at the eastern end of the country, and annexing Crimea, it did so with perhaps half a dozen BTGs. The following year, when its surrogates in Donbas needed help, it responded with roughly ten BTGs.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Place your bets”
Briefing January 29th 2022
From the January 29th 2022 edition
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