Reuters reports: Holding military drills on Ukraine’s border and sending bombers to the edge of NATO airspace, Russia’s newly reformed armed forces are in just the kind of regional confrontation it was redesigned for, experts say.

Moscow has increased defence spending by about 30 percent since its 2008 war with Georgia, and those who study it say the money has been spent not just on hardware but on a much more flexible military structure.

The result, they say, is a more streamlined force that can mobilise key units in a matter of days and support President Vladimir Putin’s goal to reassert Russian influence over countries it once controlled within the former Soviet Union. [Continue reading…]