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 The decision, which contradicted the conciliatory tone set by
Putin just a day earlier, caused consternation in the West, which
fears the referendum will tear Ukraine apart.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said Russia was heading
down a "dangerous and irresponsible path" and the situation in
Ukraine was "extremely combustible".
Denis Pushilin, a leader of the self-declared separatist Donetsk
People's Republic, expressed gratitude to Putin but said the
"People's Council" had voted unanimously on Thursday to hold the
plebiscite as planned.
"Civil war has already begun," he told reporters. "The referendum
can put a stop to it and start a political process." A man holding a
Kalashnikov stood behind him.
Political analysts said Putin may have expected the rebels to go
ahead with the referendum, showing that they were not under his
orders. By distancing himself from a process that will not be
recognized by the West, Putin may also hope to avoid further
sanctions as earlier measures begin hitting the economy.
 His spokesman said the Kremlin needed more information about the
rebels' decision. He also said the rebel statement came only after
the Western-backed government in Kiev had declared it would press on
with its military operation, implying that Ukraine was to blame for
the rebels' refusal to heed Putin.
Russian financial markets sank after surging on Wednesday when Putin
unexpectedly called for the vote to be delayed and declared that
troops were withdrawing from Ukraine's border.
NO SIGN
NATO and the United States both said they saw no sign of a Russian
withdrawal from the frontier.
When NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen tweeted as much,
the Russian Foreign Ministry tweeted back that "those with a blind
eye" should read Putin's statement.
NATO has accused Moscow of using special forces in the separatist
takeover of mainly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine after annexing
Crimea from Ukraine in March.
Putin acknowledged his troops were active in Crimea after initially
denying any role there but says they are not involved in eastern
Ukraine, a densely populated steel and coal belt responsible for
roughly a third of Ukraine's industrial output.
About 40 armed men attacked a Ukrainian border post on the Russian
frontier on Thursday and tried to seize it, but were beaten off by
Ukrainian forces, the border guard in Kiev said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said Putin's conciliatory
remarks made him suspect Moscow was planning some form of "skirmish"
to discredit Kiev when the country celebrates Victory Day on Friday.
Ukraine had tightened security for the May 9 anniversary of the
defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, Yatseniuk said.
Russian state TV has portrayed Ukraine'e pro-Western government as
fascists, and Yatseniuk said he feared Moscow would stage an
incident involving veterans who fought with the Soviet army in
defeating the Nazis.
 "There is no doubt about this ... and Russian television will show
footage of rampant nationalists beating up veterans. Russian
propaganda," he told "Fifth Channel" television, quoted by
Interfax-Ukraine.
Putin's call to delay the referendum, followed so quickly by the
rebel decision to go ahead with it, have complicated U.S. and
European efforts to agree a common policy that might lead to tighter
economic sanctions on Russia.
The European Union said shortly before the referendum announcement
that the plebiscite "would have no democratic legitimacy and could
only further worsen the situation".
The EU has laid the groundwork for possible sanctions against
Russian companies, including energy giants, over Ukraine and
diplomats said they could decide which on Monday, but that, if any,
they would only be those linked to Crimea.
Last month's U.S. and Canadian sanctions were tougher than the EU's
and Moscow said on Thursday it had retaliated by expanding the list
of U.S. and Canadian officials barred from Russia but would not give
details.
ROUND TABLE
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry discussed by phone on Thursday joint efforts to defuse
the crisis, which also involve the EU and OSCE European security
organization, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said.
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In Washington, the State Department said Kerry had also spoken to
Yatseniuk, who proposed with Ukraine's interim president the
creation of a "Round Table" to resolve the conflict. This would draw
in political forces and civil groups in all regions, with
international mediators asked to help.
The mediators took their peace proposals to Kiev on Thursday. The
draft "road map", seen by Reuters, takes no direct view on the
referendum but said national elections planned by the Kiev
leadership for May 25 were vital to stabilizing the country.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said the plan, drawn up by the Swiss
chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had
"some common ground" with its own proposals.
The referendum has become seen as a vital step by many in Ukraine's
industrial east, fired up over what the rebels, and Moscow, call the
"fascist" government in Kiev that took over after street protests
ousted a pro-Moscow president in February.
"You have no idea how many armed people there are in Donetsk right
now," Roman Lyagin, the 33-year-old head of the self-proclaimed
republic's election commission, told Reuters at his headquarters
behind barricades of tyres and car bumpers in the occupied regional
administration in Donetsk.
"There is no man who can move this referendum," he said.
Ballots, printed in Donetsk, have been distributed across the rebel
zone, smuggled through Ukrainian army checkpoints. Lyagin says more
than three million people are eligible to vote.
Artyom, a rebel at a roadblock in the rebel-held eastern town of
Slaviansk, said of the referendum decision: "This is great news. We
need to have our say."
GREATER AUTONOMY
While many Russian speakers in Ukraine fear discrimination under the
new leadership, the extent of support for the separatists - many of
whom say their ultimate aim is to join Russia - is not so clear.
Opinion polls say a majority wish to remain in Ukraine, but with a
far greater degree of autonomy.
Putin said his call for the vote's postponement would open the way
to negotiations on cooling down a crisis that has led to dozens of
deaths in clashes between troops and separatists in eastern Ukraine
and rival groups in the southern port of Odessa.
On Thursday he again blamed Kiev, saying its "irresponsible
politics" had caused the crisis while in the Ukrainian capital,
officials said the government would not talk to "terrorists" - their
word for the separatists.
Maria Lipman, an expert at the Carnegie Center think-tank in Moscow,
said Putin would have known that his request for the referendum to
be postponed would be rebuffed.
"But this can be used to show that the people in Ukraine's east are
not Russians, take no orders from Russia, that Russia exercises no
control over them because they only do what they want to do," she
said. "He has also distanced Russia from the referendum, which has a
completely unclear status and will not be recognized by the West."
Western leaders have threatened more sanctions if the presidential
election on May 25 is disrupted. Putin said on Wednesday it was "a
step in the right direction"; on Thursday, Lavrov said the election
would be "senseless" if Kiev did not end its military operation
against the separatists.
(Additional reporting by Alessandra Prentice in Slaviansk, Ralph
Boulton in Kiev, Steve Gutterman, Vladimir Soldatkin and Thomas
Grove in Moscow, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna, Lionel Laurent in Paris,
Adrian Croft in Brussels, David Brunnstrom in Washington; Writing by
Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Giles Elgood and David Stamp)
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