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guardian | The US and its allies in Europe are expected to announce sanctions
against Russia, including visa bans and potential asset freezes, one day
after Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
The
US president, Barack Obama, told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir
Putin, on Sunday that Crimea’s vote “would never be recognised” by the
United States, as he and other US officials warned Moscow against making
further military moves toward southern and eastern Ukraine.
The
leaders spoke after people in Crimea voted overwhelmingly in favour of
the split in a referendum that the US, European Union and others said
violated the Ukrainian constitution and international law and took place
in the strategic peninsula under duress of Russian military
intervention. Putin maintained that the vote was legal and consistent
with the right of self-determination, according to the Kremlin.
Russia’s
lower house of parliament will pass legislation allowing the Crimea
region to join Russia “in the very near future”, Interfax news agency
said on Monday, quoting the chamber’s deputy speaker.
The final
results of the referendum showed that 86.8% of voters had supported
union with Russia, the head of the election commission said. Mikhail
Malyshev told a televised news conference that the commission had not
registered a single complaint about the vote.
“The results of
the referendum in Crimea clearly showed that residents of Crimea see
their future only as part of Russia,” the deputy speaker of the State
Duma, Sergei Neverov, was quoted as saying.
But the White House
said Obama reminded Putin that the US and its allies in Europe would
impose sanctions against Russia should it annex Crimea. Fist tap Woodensplinter.
