Russia orders troops back after massive drills in Crimea

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s defense minister has ordered troops back to their permanent bases after a massive exercise in Crimea that involved dozens of navy ships, hundreds of warplanes and thousands of troops in a show of force amid tensions with Ukraine. The maneuvers in Crimea were described as the largest since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula in 2014 and threw its weight behind separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine. The exercise comes amid increasing violations