Crimea moves to hold vote on joining Russia

Ignoring pressure and objections from the West and from Ukraine's fledgling national government, the pro-Russian authorities in Crimea pressed ahead on Thursday with plans to break away from Ukraine and become part of Russia.

The developments came as the United States announced new sanctions and as leaders of the European Union held emergency talks in Brussels to reinforce support for the national government in Kiev and to look for ways to press President Vladimir V Putin of Russia to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine.

The pro-Moscow authorities in Crimea, and the Kremlin itself, seemed to be undeterred and moved to tighten their grip on the Crimean Peninsula, where Ukrainian military installations are under a blockade by Russian forces.

The Crimean Parliament said on Thursday that a referendum would be held on March 16, two weeks earlier than initially planned, offering citizens of the region a choice of remaining part of Ukraine with greater independence from Kiev or joining the Russian Federation. The referendum, rejected by Ukraine, had originally been scheduled for March 30.

A court in Kiev has already ruled that the Crimean Parliament's actions are broadly illegal. An arrest warrant has been issued for the new prime minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, who heads a political party called Russian Unity and who was installed a week ago after armed men seized the Parliament building and raised the Russian flag.

Despite such measures, Crimean lawmakers also said on Thursday that they had approved a resolution seeking membership in the Russian Federation.

Officials said that the resolution was a required legal precursor to calling a referendum. The impact of the move and the consequences of its timing, however, appeared unclear. European and Ukrainian authorities rejected the latest moves, saying they violated the Ukrainian Constitution and represented the views only of pro-Russian lawmakers in Crimea.

"My position is that this referendum is unconstitutional," the Ukrainian economy minister, Pavlo Sheremeta, told reporters in Kiev. A senior European official said Ukraine's constitution required any change of territorial sovereignty to be put to a vote of all Ukrainians, not just those in one region.

In Moscow, Dmitri S Peskov, a spokesman for Putin, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that the Kremlin had been informed of the developments in Crimea but had no further comment. Prime Minister Dmitri A Medvedev said that Russia would simplify the procedures for people who have lived in Russia or the former Soviet Union to secure Russian citizenship.

News of the plan for an accelerated referendum drew an enthusiastic response from a handful of pro-Russian demonstrators in Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based.

"We're already Russian," declared Natasha Malachuk, a protester picketing a local security headquarters.

One man climbed up to place a Russian flag where the Ukrainian banner had hung outside the building. The little group cheered and chanted "Russia, Russia!"

"We're citizens of Russia, we're returning home," said Vyacheslav Tokarev, a construction worker.

Sevastopol has a special autonomous status due to the presence of the Black Sea Fleet, which means that the city's administration needs to vote formally to join Crimea before the referendum on uniting with Russia. The ballot was planned for Thursday.

Ukraine's interim prime minister, Arseniy P Yatsenyuk, who was attending the European Union meeting in Brussels, reiterated his call for the Russian government to order Russian military forces back to their barracks in Crimea and to withhold support of "the so-called government of Crimea." He told reporters the planned referendum in Crimea was "an illegitimate decision."

"This referendum has no legal grounds at all," he said. Putin, he said, is trying to build a new Berlin Wall.

With echoes of President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin during the Cold War, Yatsenyuk said: "I would like to say to Putin, 'Tear down this wall, the wall of intimidation, of military aggression.' We are ready for cooperation but we are not ready to surrender and be the subordinate of Russia.' "

In Crimea, Russian and pro-Russian forces maintained a blockade of Ukrainian military facilities, and Western officials expressed concern that Russia may also move forces into eastern Ukraine, another area where most of the population is ethnically Russian.

In Donetsk, a major city in the east, a tug-of-war between rival protesters extended into Thursday when the Ukrainian police ordered pro-Moscow demonstrators, including Pavel Gubarev, the so-called people's governor, to leave the city's administration building.

The police parked heavy trucks at the entrances to the building to prevent the pro-Moscow group from trying to retake it, witnesses said, and the Ukrainian flag was hoisted anew. The pro-Russian demonstrators, who want the city to cut ties with the national government in Kiev, had flown the Russian flag at the building.

Later on Thursday, Ukrainian security officials said Gubarev had been arrested. The police said he was under investigation for calling for Donetsk to secede from Ukraine and for capturing government buildings.

© 2014 The New York Times News Service