Yelnya is about halfway between Moscow and Minsk. The distance from Yelnya to the border of Belarus is some 60 miles or 100 kilometer. The distance to the Ukrainian border is about 150 miles or 250 kilometers. Yelnya is a regular Russian army training ground and the troops said to be there there are all units from Russia's western military district. To see those troops there, even in larger formations, is normal.
[moonofalabama.org]
Warmongers will use any pretext to sell their death and destruction. Most of the time they stage a false-flag attack on the home soil and blame it on the enemy du jour. But if they can spin a training base into a faux buildup for war, why not let the enemy create their pseudo causus belli for them?