Royal Air Force jets being scrambled to intercept Russian 'Bear' bombers off the British coast.

The UK defence secretary warning of a "real and present danger" of Russia trying to destabilise the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Pro-Russian separatists spurning a truce to force thousands of Ukrainian government troops out of the stategic town of Debaltseve.

Over the past few days I've felt at times like I was back in the days of the Cold War watching its own similar dramatic episodes playing out.

During those years the bogeyman for the West was invariably the Kremlin, long before today's

terrorist cadres of the Islamic State (IS) existed.

There is considerable irony then that earlier this week a certain Alexander Bortnikov, arrived in Washington to attend the White House Summit on 'Countering Violent Extremism.'

Bortnikov, one of Russia's most powerful men and director of the country's Federal Security Services, or FSB - the successor to the Soviet Union's feared KGB - is a man who rarely travels.

This in part, is through choice. In his seven years as FSB director, Bortnikov has never been in the United States, unlike his predecessor, Nikolai Patrushev, who was and still is a frequent visitor to Washington.

Bortnikov's travel aversion is also of course because the Russian spy chief, said to be one of President Vladimir Putin's closest confidants, cannot travel to EU countries or Canada having been

blacklisted under existing sanctions targeting officials held directly responsible for destabilising eastern Ukraine.

What's curious here is that Bortnikov is notably absent from the United States own sanctions list, suggesting that someone in Washington considers him a crucial negotiator. That the man some say is a key orchestrator of the pro-Russian separatists advancing in eastern Ukraine should be present in the US to attend talks aimed at countering violent extremism is ironic enough.

That Bortnikov's agenda during his brief stay would be solely limited to that capacity beggars belief.

According to analysts at the US- based independent intelligence think-tank, Stratfor, reports of Bortnikov's travels did not even emerge until the FSB published a press release announcing he was already in the US. That same release specifically mentioned that Bortnikov had been invited by the US State Department and the White House.

The timing here is crucal. In asking Bortnikov to Washington just as the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine was being implemented is very significant. Bortnikov is reputed to be one of the few people President Putin trusts to carry his message to Washington on his behalf.

What's more if anyone knows what is happening among the ranks of the pro-Russian separatists and US moves in response, then that person is Alexander Bortnikov.

Equipped with all the information and intelligence available he is the ideal point man for thrashing out agreements with the Americans.

So just what then might be on the agenda for discussion? For its part Russia's primary concern will be

whether the US will follow through on its threat to deliver lethal advanced weapons to Ukraine forces. Washington meanwhile, will be keen to hear Bortnikov's take on the apparent failure of the separatists to adhere to the terms of the Minsk ceasfire agreement and Russia's continued role in supporting separatist fighters.

Yesterday those issues took on a special urgency as reports emerged suggesting that Ukrainian forces were having a rough time of it in their retreat from Debaltseve. Thirteen Ukrainian servicemen were killed during Wednesday's withdrawal and the whereabouts of 82 others is unknown, the Defence Ministry confirmed yesterday. The ministry also said that 157 soldiers had been wounded and 93 taken prisoner by the separatists besieging Debaltseve.

As the fighting raged so too did the war of words and diplomacy with Moscow dismissing calls from Kiev for UN peacekeepers to be deployed in east Ukraine. The Minsk agreements signed earlier this month should be the basis for a resolution of the conflict, the Kremlin brazenly insisted.

"If this cease-fire collapses, it's hard to see the Ukrainians coming back to the negotiating table. Don't expect a third or fourth Minsk agreement," warns Steven Pifer, the director of the arms control and non-proliferation initiative at Brookings and a former US ambassador to Ukraine. "If the cease-fire continues to unravel, we could see total war in eastern Ukraine."

Pifer's observations if shared by others in Washington's corridors of power will no doubt focus the minds of those expected to meet Alexander Bortnikov, even if those negotiations have yet to be formally confirmed.

As artillery fire still rained down near Debaltseve yesterday US Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama spoke in the morning at the White House Summit. That both the US and Russia have common cause in fighting extremism is a given. But so too have both sides an urgent need to be clear on what their respective political and military 'red lines' will be when it come to the conflict in east Ukraine.

Yesterday the British government was accused by a parliamentary inquiry of "sleep-walking" into the crisis over Ukraine. The EU Committee of House of Lords found there had "catastrophic misreading" of mood by European diplomats in the run-up to the stand-off between Russia and the West.

Despite Britain's role as one of the signatories to an international agreement assuring the territorial integrity of Ukraine, it said the Government "has not been as active or as visible as it could have been" in seeking to resolve the crisis.