Vladimir Putin summoned his security council and the Russian Navy announced war games in the Black Sea a day after the Russian president accused Ukraine of trying to provoke a conflict over Crimea, which Moscow seized and annexed in 2014. The belligerent posture heightened worries in Ukraine that Russia may plan to ramp up fighting in a war between

Kiev and pro-Russian eastern separatists that had been de-escalated by a shaky peace process. Using some of his most aggressive rhetoric against Kiev since the height of the war two years ago, Putin has pledged to take counter-measures against Ukraine, which he accused of sending saboteurs into Crimea to carry out terrorist acts. READ MORE


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