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 In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against "hasty and
reckless steps" that could harm Russian-American relations, the
foreign ministry said on Friday.
"Sanctions ... would inevitably hit the United States like a
boomerang," it added.
Kerry stressed the importance of resolving the situation through
diplomacy and said he and Lavrov would continue to consult, the
State Department said.
It was the second tense, high-level exchange between the former Cold
War foes in 24 hours over the pro-Russian takeover of Ukraine's
Crimean peninsula.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said after an hour-long call with
U.S. President Barack Obama that their positions on the former
Soviet republic were still far apart. Obama announced the first
sanctions against Russia on Thursday.
Putin, who later opened the Paralympic Games in Sochi which have
been boycotted by a string of Western dignitaries, said Ukraine's
new, pro-Western authorities had acted illegitimately over the
eastern, southeastern and Crimea regions.
"Russia cannot ignore calls for help and it acts accordingly, in
full compliance with international law," he said.
Serhiy Astakhov, an aide to the Ukrainian border guards' commander,
said 30,000 Russian soldiers were now in Crimea, compared with the
11,000 permanently based with the Russian Black Sea fleet in the
port of Sevastopol before the crisis.
The Pentagon estimated as many as 20,000 Russian troops may be in
Crimea.
On Friday evening armed men drove a truck into a Ukrainian missile
defense post in Sevastopol, according to a Reuters reporter at the
scene. But no shots were fired and Crimea's pro-Russian premier said
later the standoff was over.
Putin denies the forces with no national insignia that are
surrounding Ukrainian troops in their bases are under Moscow's
command, although their vehicles have Russian military plates. The
West has ridiculed his assertion.
The most serious East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold
War escalated on Thursday when Crimea's parliament, dominated by
ethnic Russians, voted to join Russia and set a referendum for March
16. The conflict resulted from the overthrow last month of President
Viktor Yanukovich after protests in Kiev that led to violence.
JETS, DESTROYER
Turkey scrambled jets after a Russian surveillance plane flew along
its Black Sea coast and a U.S. warship passed through Turkey's
Bosphorus straits on its way to the Black Sea, although the U.S.
military said it was a routine deployment.
The head of Russia's upper house of parliament said after meeting
visiting Crimean lawmakers on Friday that Crimea had a right to
self-determination, and ruled out any risk of war between "the two
brotherly nations".
European Union leaders and Obama said the referendum plan was
illegitimate and would violate Ukraine's constitution. Obama
called German Chancellor Angela Merkel from his Florida vacation on
Friday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
"The leaders reiterated their grave concern over Russia's clear
violation of international law through its military intervention in
Ukraine," the White House said in a statement.
Obama ordered visa bans and asset freezes on Thursday against so far
unidentified people deemed responsible for threatening Ukraine's
sovereignty. Earlier in the week, a Kremlin aide said Moscow might
refuse to pay off any loans to U.S. banks, the top four of which
have around $24 billion in exposure to Russia.
Japan endorsed the Western position that the actions of Russia
constitute "a threat to international peace and security," after
Obama spoke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
China, often a Russian ally in blocking Western moves in the U.N.
Security Council, was more cautious, saying economic sanctions were
not the best way to solve the crisis and avoiding comment on the
Crimean referendum.
The EU, Russia's biggest economic partner and energy customer,
adopted a three-stage plan to try to force a negotiated solution but
stopped short of immediate sanctions.
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded angrily on Friday, calling
the EU decision to freeze talks on visa-free travel and on a broad
new pact governing Russia-EU ties "extremely unconstructive." It
pledged to retaliate.
"GUERRILLA WAR?"
Senior Ukrainian opposition politician Yulia Tymoshenko, freed from
prison after Yanukovich's overthrow, met Merkel in Dublin and
appealed for immediate EU sanctions against Russia, warning that
Crimea might otherwise slide into a guerrilla war.
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Brussels and Washington rushed to strengthen the new authorities in
economically shattered Ukraine, announcing both political and
financial assistance. The regional director of the International
Monetary Fund said talks with Kiev on a loan agreement were going
well and praised the new government's openness to economic reform
and transparency.
The European Commission has said Ukraine could receive up to 11
billion euros ($15 billion) in the next couple of years provided it
reaches agreement with the IMF, which requires painful economic
reforms such as ending gas subsidies.
Promises of billions of dollars in Western aid for the Kiev
government, and the perception that Russian troops are not likely to
go beyond Crimea into other parts of Ukraine, have helped reverse a
rout in the local hryvnia currency.
In the past two days it has traded above 9.0 to the dollar for the
first time since the Crimea crisis began last week. Local dealers
said emergency currency restrictions imposed last week were also
supporting the hryvnia.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said Ukraine had not paid its $440
million gas bill for February, bringing its arrears to $1.89 billion
and hinted it could turn off the taps as it did in 2009, when a halt
in Russian deliveries to Ukraine reduced supplies to Europe during a
cold snap.
In Moscow, a huge crowd gathered near the Kremlin at a
government-sanctioned rally and concert billed as being "in support
of the Crimean people." Pop stars took to the stage and
demonstrators held signs with slogans such as "Crimea is Russian
land" and "We believe in Putin."
IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said no one in the
civilized world would recognize the result of the "so-called
referendum" in Crimea.
He repeated Kiev's willingness to negotiate with Russia if Moscow
pulls its additional troops out of Crimea and said he had requested
a telephone call with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
But Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ridiculed calls for Russia to join
an international "contact group" with Ukraine proposed by the West,
saying they "make us smile."
Demonstrators encamped in Kiev's central Independence Square to
defend the revolution that ousted Yanukovich said they did not
believe Crimea would be allowed to secede.
Alexander Zaporozhets, 40, from central Ukraine's Kirovograd region,
put his faith in international pressure.
"I don't think the Russians will be allowed to take Crimea from us:
you can't behave like that to an independent state. We have the
support of the whole world. But I think we are losing time. While
the Russians are preparing, we are just talking."
Unarmed military observers from the pan-European Organisation for
Security and Cooperation in Europe were blocked from entering Crimea
for a second day in a row on Friday, the OSCE said on Twitter.
The United Nations said it had sent its assistant secretary-general
for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, to Kiev to conduct a preliminary
humans rights assessment.
Ukrainian television has been replaced with Russian state channels
in Crimea and the streets largely belong to people who support
Moscow's rule, some of whom have harassed journalists and occasional
pro-Kiev protesters.
Part of the Crimea's 2 million population opposes Moscow's rule,
including members of the region's ethnic Russian majority. The last
time Crimeans were asked, in 1991, they voted narrowly for
independence along with the rest of Ukraine.
"With all these soldiers here, it is like we are living in a zoo,"
Tatyana, 41, an ethnic Russian. "Everyone fully understands this is
an occupation."
(Additional reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel in Simferopol, Lidia
Kelly in Moscow, Luke Baker and Martin Santa in Brussels, Roberta
Rampton and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Lina Kushch in Donetsk and
Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; writing by Paul Taylor and Philippa
Fletcher; editing by Angus MacSwan and Lisa Shumaker)
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