PUTIN VISITS CRIMEA AFTER KYIV WARNS OF INVASION

Vladimir Putin arrived Friday in Crimea to convene a meeting of his Security Council, ratcheting up tensions over the disputed peninsula that Ukraine has warned could precede a “full-scale” invasion by Russia.

The Russian president arrived in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol, according to the Kremlin press service. He’ll speak with Moscow-backed officials in the territory, which Russia seized in 2014 against the opposition of Ukraine and its western allies the U.S. and the European Union.

Putin’s arrival escalates the worst confrontation between Russia and its neighbour since a 2015 truce eased violence between pro-Russian rebels and Ukraine in that country’s easternmost regions. The situation boiled over last week when he accused Ukraine of “terror” tactics in Crimea and vowed “very serious” measures in response. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko put his military on high alert.

The standoff comes less than a week before Ukraine’s anniversary of its independence from the Soviet Union and a month before Russia holds parliamentary elections. Efforts to bring peace to eastern Ukraine have stalled, with Putin saying plans to resume talks over a cease-fire pact would be pointless.

“This escalation may be linked with the Kremlin’s desire to exit the current format of talks,” Serhiy Zgurets, head of the Defence Express military-research centre in Kyiv, said by phone. “It wants to return to direct negotiations with the U.S. to divide spheres of interest.”