(Reuters) – Crimea’s parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum on the decision in 10 days’ time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula.
The sudden acceleration of moves to bring Crimea, which has an ethnic Russian majority and has effectively been seized by Russian forces, formally under Moscow’s rule came as European Union leaders held an emergency summit groping for ways to pressure Russia to back down and accept mediation.
The 28-nation EU condemned Russian actions in Crimea as illegal, voiced support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity but took only minor steps suspending talks with Moscow on visas and a new investment pact while warning of tougher steps if there is no negotiated solution within a short period.
By contrast, U.S. President Barack Obama announced immediate first steps to punish Russians and Ukrainians involved in what he called “threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”, ordering the freezing of their U.S. assets and a ban on travel to the United States.
The names on the blacklist were not immediately made public but a U.S. official said they did not include Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Pentagon also announced a large-scale air force exercise in Poland which Washington’s ambassador to Warsaw said had been augmented to reassure U.S. allies in the region in the light of the Ukraine crisis.
The crisis began in November when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, under Russian pressure, turned his back on a trade deal with the EU and accepted a $15 billion bailout from Moscow. That prompted three months of street protests leading to the overthrow of Yanukovich on February 22.
Moscow denounced the events as an illegitimate coup and refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities.
STAKES RAISED
The Crimean parliament voted overwhelmingly on Thursday “to enter into the Russian Federation with the rights of a subject of the Russian Federation”.
The decision, which diplomats said could not have been made without Putin’s approval, raised the stakes in the most serious east-west confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
The vice premier of Crimea, home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, said a referendum on the status would take place on March 16. All state property would be “nationalized”, the Russian ruble adopted and Ukrainian troops treated as occupiers and forced to surrender or leave, he said.
EU leaders, the U.S. State Department and the new government of Ukraine all branded the referendum decision illegal because it was incompatible with the Ukrainian constitution.
Russian stocks fell and the ruble weakened further after the referendum news. Moody’s ratings agency said the stand-off was negative for Russia’s sovereign creditworthiness.
On the ground, a mission of 35 unarmed military observers from the pan-European Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe was stopped from entering Crimea by unidentified men in military fatigues when they travelled from the port of Odessa, Poland’s defense minister said.
In Brussels, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy outlined a three stage plan to try to resolve the crisis, while announcing that the EU would sign the political parts of an far reaching agreement with Ukraine before May 25 elections there, and offer the country extensive aid and trade benefits.
Unless Moscow opens negotiations with Ukraine and an international “contact group” soon, the EU would move to travel bans and asset freezes on Russian officials, and boycott a planned June Group of Eight summit in Olympic venue Sochi.
If Russia took action that destabilizes Ukraine further, there would be “grave consequences” for bilateral economic ties, he said, without giving any deadlines. Poland’s prime minister said the EU talks on sanctions had been “stormy”, hinting at frustration at his inability to achieve stronger measures, which require a unanimous decision of 28 member states.
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