INTERNATIONAL: Ukraine's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom Vadym Prystaiko has said on Sunday,January 23, he was not surprised by Britain's allegations that Russia was planning to install a puppet government in Ukraine.

Ukranian diplomat Vadym Prystaiko says he has already expected, as a logical next step in Russian invasion. They will invade Ukraine and they will have to establish some sort of government. It’s not surprising for the Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.

Britain's foreign ministry has said on Sunday that Moscow was considering former Ukrainian lawmaker Yevhen Murayev as a potential candidate to lead Ukraine if Russia launched an invasion, and said Russian intelligence officers were in contact with several other former Ukrainian politicians about planning an attack.

Prystaiko believes Putin sees himself in the history books. The question is what he wanted to be written there, that he reunited the Soviet Union back, which he believed was the global geopolitical catastrophe, when it collapsed.

Ukranian lawmaker Murayev has dismissed British allegations that he could be installed as leader of a Kremlin puppet government in Kyiv, and has said he was considering legal action.

Kyiv and its Western allies have sounded the alarm over Russia massing troops near Ukraine's borders. Russia denies plans to attack but has pressed for security guarantees, including a block on Ukraine joining the NATO alliance.

Ambassador Prystaiko says he believes countries are working on the presumption that Putin will stop at some particular point, he's just raising the stakes.'' Everybody's trying to stay away from even the thinking of sending soldiers on battles.'