Dispute Between Russia and Ukraine Over Crimea Accusations Escalates

Russian President Vladimir Putin blames Ukraine for the deaths of two of its service members

By Laura Mills, WSJ
Updated Aug. 11, 2016 9:30 a.m. ET

MOSCOW—Ukraine’s president put his country’s forces on combat alert Thursday as Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed stepped-up security measures in the annexed territory of Crimea, escalating a crisis around the Black Sea peninsula.

President Petro Poroshenko met with his security advisers, ordering them to bring all units along the Crimean frontier and in eastern Ukraine to “increased combat-readiness,” according to an official statement. He also called on his foreign ministry to initiate talks with Mr. Putin.

Mr. Putin had met earlier with his security council and other officials to discuss “antiterrorist security scenarios at the land border, sea, and in the airspace of Crimea,” according to the Kremlin.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Russia’s Black Sea Fleet would conduct training exercises in the eastern Mediterranean starting next week, including drills to test its ability to deal with threats “of a terrorist nature.”

(More here.)