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SIMFEROPOL. — Lawmakers in Crimea voted to join Russia yesterday, escalating tensions in Ukraine as the new government in Kiev said it wanted to sign an EU agreement “as soon as possible” and the US announced sanctions to punish Moscow. Pro-Russia lawmakers said they would also put the question of secession from Ukraine to a referendum on March 16 this year, as the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War deepened with Russian forces maintaining their grip on the region.
The motion was passed by 78 out of 86 Members of Parliament in favour and was immediately condemned by Ukrainian authorities as “illegitimate”, while the large ethnic Tatar minority in the Black Sea peninsula said they would boycott the vote.
Gunmen at an improvised checkpoint on Crimea’s regional border with the rest of Ukraine also yesterday blocked a group of 40 unarmed military observers from carrying out an inspection mission requested by Ukraine’s government.
A spokeswoman for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Natacha Rajakovic, said they were “prevented from entering Crimean territory” and would stay in a hotel in nearby Kherson to “decide on next steps”.
Wider diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis also appeared to stall, with a second round of talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in two days ending with no agreement.
With an executive order, US President Barack Obama also approved possible visa bans and property sanctions against people seen as “directly involved in destabilising Ukraine, including the military intervention in Crimea”.
The measures were “in response to Russia’s on-going violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty,” the White House said.
European Union leaders at a hastily convened emergency summit in Brussels also pushed for Russia to opt for dialogue and de-escalation, while warning that sanctions were in the offing should Moscow refuse a diplomatic solution.
The bloc’s 28 leaders met a day after the European Union executive offered Ukraine a huge US$15 billion aid package to support its ailing economy and help pay massive gas bill arrears to Russia.
Europe’s G8 members, Britain, France, Germany and Italy, have along with the US, Japan and Canada, suspended preparations for a June summit to be hosted by Putin in Sochi, though Germany and Italy had to be prodded to agree.
EU nations remain divided on how to respond to Russia, with new EU members from eastern Europe once in the Soviet sphere far tougher than the likes of France and Germany.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite called for a harsher EU response, warning that a “dangerous” Russia was trying to redraw Europe’s borders.– AFP.
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