Top US diplomat John Kerry arrived in London today on an 11th-hour mission to head off a possible Russian annexation of Crimea on the heels of a breakaway vote by the Ukrainian region.
With the clock ticking down to Crimea's referendum on Sunday, Kerry was to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seeking to put the brakes on any moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin to swiftly annex the peninsula.
Shortly before leaving the United States, the secretary of state admitted that it was all but impossible to stop the referendum organised by Crimea's self-declared leaders from going ahead and warned there was no question that the pro-Russian ethnic majority would vote to move closer to Moscow.
Shortly after arriving in London, Kerry paid a visit to British Prime Minister David Cameron at his Downing Street residence ahead of his talks with Lavrov.
Cameron urged Russia and Ukraine to negotiate over Crimea and warned that failure to do so could trigger sanctions from the West.
He said: "We want to see progress as much as you do. We want to see Ukrainians and the Russians talking to each other.
"And if they don't then there are going to have to be consequences."
Kerry said: "Hopefully, I think we're all hoping that we don't get pushed into a place where we have to do all this. But we'll see what happens."
World attention is now focused on what moves Putin may make on Monday following the vote. There are growing concerns that he may have further ambitions to seize other swathes of Ukraine.
Alarm was raised in recent days by a large mobilisation of Russian forces on the eastern borders of Ukraine, with an estimated 20,000 troops already inside southern Crimea as well as growing intimidation by pro-Kremlin militias and mobs.
"We're very concerned. This is the second time inside a month that Russia has chosen to mass large amounts of forces in short notice around the borders of eastern Ukraine," a senior State Department official told reporters travelling with Kerry to London.
"It certainly creates an environment of intimidation. It certainly is destabilising," the official said.
