Washington ( CNN ) -- The United States has seen the first preliminary signs that Russian forces may be preparing to move away from Ukraine 's eastern border , a U.S. defense official told CNN on Wednesday . `` There is some evidence of preparations for potential movement , '' the official said . `` At a few locations , there is evidence of troops packing up , but nothing has moved yet . '' The official declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information . The official also declined to specify the locations and emphasized that actual movement has not yet occurred . This latest assessment was made days after Russia formally announced it had ordered its troops off the border . And it comes ahead of Ukraine 's presidential election scheduled for Sunday . The United States has estimated that 40,000 troops were on the border . Ever since the latest announcement , the United States has been watching for signs of movement to show up in satellite imagery from the area . Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops near the Ukraine border to return to their bases , his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday . The withdrawal has started , he said , and could take some time to finish . But despite Moscow 's assertion , there were no signs of the troops ' withdrawal , NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said hours later . The United States , which along with other Western countries has sanctioned Russia for its disputed takeover of Crimea , has threatened additional punishment for Russia if it fails to pull its troops back from the border . Putin : 'Our troops are no longer on the border ' On Wednesday , Putin said that `` our troops are no longer on the border , '' the Kremlin website said . The President made the remarks during a trip to Shanghai , China , it said . `` They really were quite close to the border and you certainly heard about that . A while back I gave the command to the Ministry of Defence to withdraw them to their training grounds . They are also located in the adjacent regions , in Rostov region , nearby . But now the Ministry of Defence received another instruction . To withdraw them even from these training grounds , '' he said . Putin said the upcoming elections factored into his decision . `` I would like to stress again it is done not because we are embarrassed to keep our troops there -- we are a sovereign state and we keep our troops where we want to -- but to be able to set up extra favorable conditions around the coming presidential elections in Ukraine . To avoid any speculation about that , such a decision was made , '' he said , according to the website . Detained journalist freed . A journalist detained Tuesday in Ukraine was freed Wednesday , according to his Twitter account . The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry confirmed to CNN that Russia Today journalist Graham Phillips had been detained and turned in to the Security Service of Ukraine . He sent a series of tweets Wednesday saying he had been freed and describing his detention . `` All my work in order , no charges , no deportation , no one laid a hand on me in anger , Ukrainian authorities treated me fairly . All ok , '' he tweeted . He thanked the British Embassy for its help in his case . The exact circumstances of his detention were not immediately clear , but RT.com said he had been arrested at a checkpoint in Mariupol . In the tweets before his detention , Phillips described a secret interview at the city morgue . Ukraine 's 'Chocolate King ' aims for top job . Who 's in charge here ? In one eastern Ukrainian city , answer is n't clear . CNN 's Anna Maja Rappard , Olga Pavlova , Victoria Butenko and Carol Jordan contributed to this report .
Russian : Russia Today , says his detention is over , says he was treated well . ` ` Our troops are no longer on the border , '' Russian President Vladimir Putin says . U.S. official : ` ` There is some evidence of preparations for potential elections '' Russia 's presidential election is scheduled for Sunday .