As Washington began evacuating the families of its employees at its Kiev embassy, and amid accusations from Britain that it was seeking to invade Ukraine and install a pro-Ukrainian president, unrest on the Russian-Ukrainian border is escalating.

As the West attempts, through shuttle tours, to conduct diplomatic negotiations with Russia in order to avoid a deterioration of the situation while threatening severe sanctions, a state of preparedness prevails in Ukraine as Russia mobilizes more than 100,000 troops at the border between the two countries, warning that Moscow is close to launching an "invasion" of its territory.

Russia denies that it plans to launch an attack but says it may take unspecified military action if a list of demands is not met that would prevent the United States and NATO from eastward expansion into areas that the Kremlin considers to be within its sphere of influence.

For its part, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) announced in a statement that its States were preparing standby forces on alert and had sent ships and fighters to reinforce their defences in Eastern Europe against Russian military activities on Ukraine's borders.

The British Foreign Office revealed what it considered to be information that the Russian Government was seeking to install a pro-Russian leader in Kiev after the invasion and occupation of Ukraine.

In a statement, the British Foreign Office said that "the Russian Government is considering the possibility of nominating the former deputy of the Ukrainian Parliament, Yevgeny Murayev, to this role."

Moscow asserted that Britain's accusations about Russia's alleged bid to install a pro - Russian president in Kiev are "nonsense and new evidence that NATO is the one to escalate tension over Ukraine."

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that "the disinformation published by the British Foreign Office is new evidence that it is the Anglo-Saxon-led NATO nations that are escalating tensions around Ukraine."

The Russian Foreign Office called on its British counterpart to "stop provocative activities and abandon the spread of nonsense," according to the statement.