West Warns Russia Not to Annex Crimea After Referendum

London (Mar 17)   The U.S. and the European Union warned Russia not to annex Crimea after a referendum in Ukraine’s southern region, setting the stage for sanctions on Russia in the worst diplomatic standoff since the Cold War.

A total of 95.5 percent of voters in Black Sea peninsula backed leaving Ukraine to join Russia in the referendum, preliminary results show. The Ukrainian government, the EU and the U.S. consider the vote illegal, while Russia said it “fully met international norms.” Turnout was 82.7 percent, according the election commission.

As the West threatens to ratchet up sanctions if Russia doesn’t back down from taking over Crimea, the Kremlin has deployed about 60,000 troops along the Ukrainian border, the government in Kiev said. Ukraine closed border crossings to Russia and will mobilize as many as 15,000 volunteers in the next 15 days to defend the nation, officials said today.

The international community “will not recognize the results of a poll administered under threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention,” the White House said in a statement. “Russia’s actions are dangerous and destabilizing. Military intervention and violation of international law will bring increasing costs for Russia.”

Khruschev’s Gift

A majority of Crimea’s residents are ethnic Russians and the region was part of Russia until 1954, when it was given by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin contends ethnic Russians in Crimea are at risk after the ouster last month of President Viktor Yanukovych, an assertion that Ukraine’s new leaders deny.

U.S. President Barack Obama has signed an executive order authorizing financial sanctions, allowing Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew to take steps that could include freezing assets or blocking American companies or individuals from doing business with Russians, Ukrainians or others deemed a threat to Ukraine’s security.

Putin spoke with Obama today and said even amid differing views it’s necessary to work together to stabilize Ukraine, the Kremlin said on its website. Putin also telephoned with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague called the Crimea vote “illegal, unconstitutional and illegitimate.” In an e-mailed statement, Hague said the EU would need to make “a firm and united response” to Russia.

EU Sanctions

EU foreign ministers, who meet tomorrow, are poised to impose asset freezes and visa bans on people and “entities” involved in Russia’s seizure of Crimea, an EU official said. Leaders of the 28-nation EU meet in Brussels on March 20-21 to discuss further measures aimed at Russia.

“We are all reluctant to impose sanctions because Russia will probably respond and we’ll all suffer as a result,” Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski of Poland, a NATO and EU country that shares a border with Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, said on CNN. “But Russia is leaving us with no choice.”

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden travels to Poland and Lithuania tomorrow for talks on Ukraine, according to a White House statement. The Pentagon said last week it would send 12 F-16 aircraft to Poland as a sign of U.S. commitment to defend allies in the region; the U.S. previously sent six fighter jets to Lithuania.

Source:  Bloomberg