While officially denying any intention to invade, Russia is narrowing the military stranglehold on Ukraine, from all sides, while other experts maintain that "war is inevitably coming."

Konstantin Maluviev, who runs an investment and media group that is strongly pro - Kremlin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, told the media that it would take two days to control Ukraine.

He said: "An open military conflict between Russia and Ukraine cannot be a war, or at least a long-term war, because the difference in military capabilities is so great that there can only be a process to force peace."

He added: "It's going to take a maximum of 48 hours, and we can't talk about different fronts."

Maloviv asserted that Ukraine was now fully controlled and administered by the United States and Britain, and that it would be dealt with as such by Moscow.

He said: "US and British special forces are already on Ukrainian territory. We know that the Canadian Special Forces have also arrived in Ukraine. "

He warned that Western forces would lead Ukraine to a "lost suicide war," which would lead to bloodshed on both sides.

Putin's ally said: "Let's see if their masters (Ukraine) will be prepared to make peace without bloodshed of Ukrainians and Russians, or if they will drag Ukrainians into this crazy and suicidal conflict."

On 18 March, Moscow began deploying troops to Belarus to conduct previously undisclosed combat readiness exercises at the borders of the European Union and Ukraine.

Ukraine now estimates the Russian military forces ready for the conflict to 130,000, sufficient to carry out a partial or complete invasion of Ukraine, according to the experts.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the United States and NATO had not responded to Russia's main security demands in the confrontation over Ukraine, but had indicated a willingness to continue the dialogue.