US President Barack Obama warned Russian leader Vladimir Putin that the US was prepared to impose "additional costs" on Russia for the Crimean referendum saying that it would never be recognised by the international community.
In a telephone call with Mr Putin yesterday afternoon, Mr Obama said that the referendum took place “under duress of Russian military intervention.”
The US president again proposed a diplomatic solution to resolve the crisis, saying that the new Ukrainian government continued to take “concrete steps” that would de-escalate the crisis, according to the White House’s account of the call.
Mr Obama told the Russian leader, in their fourth telephone call on the Ukrainian crisis, that large-scale Russian military exercises on Ukraine’s borders “only exacerbate the tension”.
This was a reference to the incursion of helicopter-borne Russian forces into mainland Ukraine to seize a natural gas plant in an attempt by the Kremlin to consolidate control over the Crimean peninsula.
Mr Obama said that US secretary of state John Kerry continues to be prepared to work with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and the Ukrainian government to find a diplomatic resolution.
In the Kremlin’s account of the call, Mr Putin defended the referendum saying that it was fully in accordance with international law.
Mr Putin noted the lack of desire or ability of Ukraine’s fledgling government to subdue “ultranationalist radical elements. . . who are terrorising peaceful residents” of Ukraine, according to the Russian statement on the call.
The call between the leaders took place as Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine yesterday. Exit polls suggested 93 per cent of ballots were in favour of joining Russia, in a referendum that most of the world has condemned as illegal.
In an earlier statement, Mr Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, underlined the White House's opposition to the referendum: "We reject the 'referendum' that took place today in the Crimean region of Ukraine. This referendum is contrary to Ukraine's constitution, and the international community will not recognise the results of a poll administered under threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention that violates international law."
Describing Russia’s actions as “dangerous and destabilising”, Carney condemned the Kremlin and said its actions would result in “increasing costs”.
Earlier yesterday Russia and Ukraine agreed a truce until Friday, Ukraine’s acting defence minister Ihor Tenyukh said: “No measures will be taken against our military facilities in Crimea during that time.”
The agreement provides some respite for Ukraine’s beleaguered troops, trapped on their military bases and naval ships since Russian forces began occupying the peninsula on February 27th.
They have been encircled since, in some cases without electricity. Local residents have smuggled in food to them amid a standoff with the Russian military.
But there seems little doubt that Ukrainian forces will be evicted from Kremlin-controlled Crimea once the truce expires on Friday. Crimea’s deputy prime minister, Rustam Temirgaliyev, said that troops would be given safe passage and predicted that eastern Ukraine would be next to join Russia.
“Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkiv have the same situation, as in Crimea. Seventy-five per cent of people want to join Russia,” he told journalists near the parliament building in Simferopol.
The government in Kiev has accused Moscow of deliberately stirring up tensions in the east by bringing in professional activists and provocateurs from across the border. In a series of ominous statements, Russia’s foreign ministry has said it may be forced to act to “protect” ethnic Russians – an expression that appears to provide a rationale for future military incursions.
On Saturday, Russia vetoed a US-drafted motion in the UN security council in New York, which had declared the Crimea referendum invalid. ChinA abstained. Pro-unity rallies took place at the Maidan in Kiev yesterday, the scene of Ukraine's revolution that led to president Viktor Yaunkoych abandoning his office and fleeing to Russia last month. Some of those who attended were Crimeans who opposed secession and said they had left the peninsula amid threats and pressure.
Antonina Danchuk (30), who lived in Simferopol until two years ago, and studied Greek and English at its university, described the referendum as a "fake". "It's illegal," she said.
Additional reporting: Guardian service