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 Putin defended breakaway moves by pro-Russian leaders in Crimea,
where Russian forces tightened their grip on the Ukrainian Black Sea
peninsula by seizing another border post and a military airfield.
As thousands staged rival rallies in Crimea, street violence flared
in Sevastopol, when pro-Russian activists and Cossacks attacked a
group of Ukrainians.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all parties to remain calm
and urged a political solution to the crisis, during telephone calls
with U.S. President Barack Obama and Merkel.
"The situation in Ukraine is extremely complex, and what is most
urgent is for all sides to remain calm and exercise restraint to
avoid an escalation in tensions," China's foreign ministry on Monday
cited Xi as telling Obama. "Political and diplomatic routes must be
used to resolve the crisis," Xi added.
Russian forces' seizure of the region has been bloodless but
tensions are mounting following the decision by pro-Russian groups
there to make Crimea part of Russia.
In the latest armed action, pro-Russian forces wearing military
uniforms bearing no designated markings sealed off a military
airport in Crimea near the village of Saki, a Ukrainian Defence
Ministry spokesman on the peninsula said.
The operation to seize Crimea began within days of Ukraine's
pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich's flight from the country
last month. Yanukovich was toppled after three months of
demonstrations against a decision to spurn a free trade deal with
the European Union for closer ties with Russia.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk will hold talks with
President Barack Obama in Washington on Wednesday on how to find a
peaceful resolution to the crisis, the White House said.
One of Obama's top national security officials said the United
States would not recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia if
residents vote to leave Ukraine in a referendum next week.
"We won't recognize it, nor will most of the world," deputy national
security adviser Tony Blinken said.
INTERNATIONAL LAW
Putin declared a week ago that Russia had the right to invade
Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to
change the law to make it easier to annex territory inhabited by
Russian speakers.
Speaking by telephone to Merkel and British Prime Minister David
Cameron, Putin said steps taken by authorities in Crimea were "based
on international law and aimed at guaranteeing the legitimate
interests of the peninsula's population," the Kremlin said.
A German government statement, however, said the referendum was
illegal: "Holding it violates the Ukrainian constitution and
international law."
Merkel also regretted the lack of progress on forming an
"international contact group" to seek a political solution to the
Ukraine crisis and said this should be done urgently.
On Thursday, Merkel said if a contact group was not formed in the
coming days and no progress was made in negotiations with Russia,
the European Union could hit Russia with sanctions such as travel
restrictions and asset freezes.
Merkel, whose country is heavily dependent on Russia oil and gas,
has so far been more cautious than some other nations, urging
Western partners to give Putin more time before punishing Moscow
with tough economic sanctions.
This stance reflects German fears of the geopolitical consequences
of an isolated Russia as much as it does concern about its business
interests and energy ties.
In a round of telephone diplomacy on Sunday, the German chancellor
also spoke with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, agreeing that
Ukraine's sovereignty must be preserved.
BORDER POST
Russians took over a Ukrainian border post on the western edge of
Crimea at around 6 a.m. (0400) GMT, trapping about 15 personnel
inside, a border guard spokesman said.
The spokesman, Oleh Slobodyan, said Russian forces now controlled 11
border guard posts across Crimea, a former Russian territory that is
home to Russia's Black Sea fleet and has an ethnic Russian majority.
At a Ukrainian military base at Yevpatoriya on the coast of western
Crimea there were reports that the Russian forces had issued an
ultimatum to surrender or be stormed. It passed, as has happened on
other occasions at bases across Crimea.
"They are putting psychological pressure on us. It is not the first
ultimatum," Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Lomaka told Reuters by
telephone, saying the Russian forces would not allow him out of the
base.
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"We have no fight with them, but we are not going to hand over our
weapons to soldiers of the Russian Federation."
Dimtry Bolbanchyov, 50, who works as a cook on commercial boats,
bicycles 13 kilometers across town to bring the besieged Ukrainians
soldiers food.
"I am doing what I can to boost their morale. Ukraine has become so
weak, we can only hope for help from outside," he said.
In Sevastopol, several hundred people held a meeting demanding that
Crimea become part of Russia, chanting: "Moscow is our capital."
Across town at a monument to Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko,
violence flared at a meeting to commemorate the 200th anniversary of
his birth, when pro-Russian activists and Cossacks attacked a small
group of Ukrainians guarding the event and the police had to
intervene.
Footage from the event showed a group of men violently kicking one
of the Ukrainians as he lay on the ground and a Cossack repeatedly
hit him with a long black leather whip.
In Simferopol, Crimea's main city, pro- and anti-Russian groups held
rival rallies.
Several hundred opponents of Russian-backed plans for Crimea to
secede gathered, carrying blue and yellow balloons the color of the
Ukrainian flag. The crowd sang the national anthem, twice, and an
Orthodox Priest led prayers and a hymn.
Vladimir Kirichenko, 58, an engineer, opposed the regional
parliament's plans for a vote this month on Crimea joining Russia.
"I don't call this a referendum. It asks two practically identical
questions: Are you for the secession of Ukraine or are you for the
secession of Ukraine? So why would I go and vote?"
SOVIET SONGS
Several thousand Russian supporters gathered in Lenin Square,
clapping along to nostalgic Soviet era songs.
Alexander Liganov, 25 and jobless, said: "We have always been
Russian, not Ukrainian. We support Putin."
At a rally in the eastern city of Donetsk, home to many Russian
speakers, presidential candidate Vitaly Klitschko, a former boxing
champion, said Ukraine should not be allowed to split apart amid
bloodshed.
"The main task is to preserve the stability and independence of our
country," he said.
The worst face-off with Moscow since the Cold War has left the West
scrambling for a response, especially since the region's pro-Russia
leadership declared Crimea part of Russia last week and announced a
March 16 referendum to confirm it.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking to Russia's foreign
minister for the fourth day in a row, told Sergei Lavrov on Saturday
that Russia should exercise restraint.
A spokeswoman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe said military monitors from the pan-Europe watchdog had on
Saturday been prevented for the third time in as many days from
entering Crimea.
Moscow denies that the Russian-speaking troops in Crimea are under
its command, an assertion Washington dismisses as "Putin's fiction".
Although they wear no insignia, the troops drive vehicles with
Russian military plates.
A Reuters reporting team filmed a convoy of hundreds of Russian
troops in about 50 trucks, accompanied by armored vehicles and
ambulances, which pulled into a military base north of Simferopol in
broad daylight on Saturday.
Ukrainian troops are performing training exercises in their bases
but there are no plans to send them to Crimea, Interfax news agency
quoted acting Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh as saying. Ukraine's
military, with 130,000 troops, would be no match for Russia's. So
far Kiev has held back from any action that might provoke a
response.
(Additional reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kiev and Alissa de
Carbonnel at Yevpatoriya; writing by Timothy Heritage and Giles Elgood;
editing by Anna Willard and Michael Perry)
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