Vladimir Putin has blamed the recent surge in tension between Moscow and Kyiv on foundering efforts to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine, following Russia's accusations of an alleged Ukrainian armed incursion in Crimea.
“Apparently, our partners in Kyiv decided to aggravate the situation, and it is clear why – because they do not want to, or cannot for whatever reasons, fulfil the Minsk agreement and, secondly, [because they] struggle to explain to their own people their significant failure in social and economic policy,” Mr Putin said on August 19 at a meeting with members of his security council in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.
