The White House says the United States has seen no indication that Russian troops are pulling back from the Ukrainian border despite an order from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

White House spokesman Jay Carney says if Russia had pulled its troops back, the U.S. would know and would be able to confirm it publicly. He says the U.S. would welcome a withdrawal of the 40,000 Russian near the border with Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Monday that Putin was ordering the troops to return to their home bases in an apparent attempt to de-escalate the crisis over Ukraine.

Carney is pointing out that Putin has made similar announcements previously. The U.S. and NATO have said they saw no signs of a pull-out following those announcements.

(AP)