If you believe the message from the Kremlin, Russia currently has no plans to send police or military forces into neighboring Belarus. But it has sent in some reinforcements — to the news media, as part of a strategy that should stand as a warning to democracies around the world.
Of course, President Vladimir Putin mused just over a week ago, Russia may eventually need to intervene in Belarus militarily. But as his spokesman put it last week: "At present we see that the situation is under control.”
Putin is trying to convey the impression that he is just a concerned neighbor in a crisis that has exploded in national unrest since Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko declared victory in a stolen election last month. Russia, Putin wants the world to believe, is holding back.