The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has described the Crimean parliament's decision to call a referendum on whether to leave Ukraine and join Russia, a "worrying and serious development."
Ban's spokesman today said that the UN chief was urging the authorities in Ukraine, "including in Crimea, to treat this matter with calm," referring to the March 16 vote to renounce ties with Kiev and switch to Kremlin rule.
Ban "believes all concerned should think about the implications of any hasty action or decision taken in the heat of the moment," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said. "He cannot underline enough the need for peace and stability in the region."
Nesirky, however, did not state if the United Nations would consider such a referendum to be illegal under international law or the Ukrainian constitution, as has been said by the United States and its allies.
The heads of Russia's two houses of parliament said they would respect a decision by lawmakers in the flashpoint Black Sea region to renounce ties with Kiev and stage the referendum.
The escalating threat of Ukraine being partitioned between its pro-European west and more Russified southeast prompted US President Barack Obama to place an hour-long call to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
The White House said Obama "emphasized that Russia's actions are in violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which has led us to take several steps in response, in coordination with our European partners."
The European Union has strengthened its resolve to impose stiff sanctions on Russia while also vowing to sign an historic trade pact aimed at pulling Kiev out of Moscow's orbit before Ukraine holds snap presidential polls on May 25.
But with Russian forces in effective control of Crimea -- a predominantly ethnic Russian peninsula roughly the size of Belgium and the base of the Kremlin's Black Sea Fleet -- the threat of Ukraine's division seems more real than at any point since Putin won parliamentary approval to use force against his western neighbor.
