MOSCOW/KYIV/BERLIN (Financial Times) -- Kremlin brinkmanship along the Ukrainian border escalated on Friday, with President Vladimir Putin accusing Kyiv of intentionally stoking tensions in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists ordered an evacuation of civilians to Russia.
Ukrainian security services vociferously denied any unilateral moves in the region. But the increased Russian saber-rattling reinforced the view in several Western capitals, including Washington, that Putin was creating a pretense to invade.
