Either that or they went from 'there is no tangible evidence' to 'there is or still isn't any tangible evidence' rather than taking a belligerent's word for it from the get go.
i think the real question to be asked is how the fuck has this been going on for 18 months?
Mainly thanks to the training exercises being held at the border that provide plausible deniability and cover of troop movements.
Additionally; attempting to differentiate Russian regular soldiers who are in disguise in a Russian speaking part of town from local irregulars or even Russian military volunteers is an exercise in futility unless you happen to get lucky. What makes it worse is the blatant use of manipulated, fake or fraudulent images being passed off as evidence by both sides for either NATO/Ukraine or Russian aggression. The US government itself has been caught out a number of time relying on so called evidence that turned out to be false, misleading or simply fraudulent. Thus; even if you manage to take a photo of Russian regulars crossing the border; there is no landmark on that multi thousand km border to get a conclusive smoking gun photo.
Even if we rely on the modern equipment the separatists are seemingly lugging about there is still the plausible deniability of it being possible weapons transfer from Russia or captured equipment.
It doesn't even really matter at this point.
That's right.
It certainly doesn't because there is little we can or are willing to do about it aside from sanctions. Additionally; going to far could be dangerous or extremely uncomfortable for a country where our desire of regime change doesn't outweigh our desire to avoid confrontation with a nuclear armed power.
It has taken months of great journalistic efforts by groups like Vice News to actually find something akin to a massive smoking gun and present as information from a non-belligerent. But even if you consider the implication of Russian servicemen fighting in the Ukraine being found out; all Russia has to do is state that these men went AWOL without permission to go fight for their brothers in Donetsk etc.
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