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White House will not recognise result of Crimea referendum Putin tells Obama Crimea referendum is legal after US refuses to accept vote
(about 3 hours later)
The White House said on Sunday the US would not recognise the results of a referendum in Crimea that appeared to have overwhelmingly endorsed leaving Ukraine to join Russia, as it promised sanctions against Moscow within days. Vladimir Putin told Barack Obama on Sunday evening that the referendum endorsing Crimea becoming part of Russia was legal and should be accepted, according to the Kremlin, after the White House warned the Russian president that the vote violated international law.Putin told Obama during a telephone call the vote was “fully consistent with the norms of international law and the UN Charter”, according to a statement posted on the Kremlin website.
As Russian state media reported that exit polls showed a 93% vote in favour of secession, President Barack Obama’s press secretary, Jay Carney, said in a statement the administration rejected “the ‘referendum’ that took place today in the Crimean region of Ukraine”. Russian state media reported that 95.5% of people in the southern province, which has been occupied by Russian forces for the past fortnight, had voted in favour of leaving Ukraine. Some 3.5% were said to have chosen more autonomy while remaining part of the country.Putin also used the call, which Moscow said was initiated by the US, to tell Obama that the case of Crimea was in line with the so-called “Kosovo precedent”. He has claimed that the recognition of the former Yugoslavian territory as a sovereign state in 2008 established a legal framework for secession that could be repeated by other separatist movements.
Carney added: “This referendum is contrary to Ukraine’s constitution, and the international community will not recognise the results of a poll administered under threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention that violates international law.” A spokesman for Obama’s National Security Council confirmed in a tweet: “The President spoke with President Putin this afternoon about Ukraine” and said that a US read-out of the call would follow.
Describing Russia’s actions as “dangerous and destabilising”, Carney condemned the Kremlin for escalating the crisis from a military occupation of Crimea a fortnight ago to carrying out “threatening military exercises on Ukraine’s eastern border”. He warned its actions would result in “increasing costs”. White House aides reiterated earlier on Sunday that the US would not recognise the results of the referendum and promised to introduce sanctions against Moscow within days. Jay Carney, Obama’s press secretary, said in a statement that the administration rejected “the ‘referendum’ that took place today in the Crimean region of Ukraine”.
Earlier on Sunday Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, stressed that the US would not be acknowledging the outcome of the vote.“This referendum is in violation of international law,” Pfeiffer told NBC’s Meet the Press. “The United States is not going to recognise the results of that referendum.”Amid pressure on Obama from Republicans to take tougher action against President Vladimir Putin for his actions in Crimea, Pfeiffer declined to rule out American direct military aid to Kiev, saying only that the US was considering “all ways of assistance” in light of the Russian military occupation.The Republican senator John McCain said on Saturday during a visit to Ukraine by a bipartisan group of eight senators that the country required a “long-term military assistance programme from the United States” comprising “lethal and nonlethal” equipment to enable resistance against Russian forces.Pfeiffer said senior Russians should prepare for “sanctions designations in the coming days” from the US, which is poised to introduce asset freezes and visa bans authorised last week by Obama. And he urged Congress to pass an economic aid package for Ukraine, comprising $150m (£90m) along with $1bn in loan guarantees.“We are putting as much pressure on the Russians as we can to do the right thing,” Pfeiffer said. Of Putin, he asked: “Is he going to continue to further isolate himself, further hurt his economy, further diminish Russian influence in the world, or is he going to do the right thing?”State media in Moscow said on Sunday that Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, had made progress during a telephone conversation about the crisis.“Lavrov and Kerry agreed to continue contacts in search for a settlement of the situation in Ukraine through an earliest possible launch of constitutional reform, assisted by the world community in a generally acceptable form and with due respect for the interests of all regions of Ukraine,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, according to Voice of Russia.Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, last week said the new government in Kiev was willing to “hold a national dialogue about additional rights and powers” that could be offered to Crimea.However, on Sunday the Russian claims were met with scepticism in Washington. “We’ve seen this movie before: we should be cautious,” Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, told CBS of the Russian read-out of the call, suggesting that the Kremlin may simply be trying to buy time.A senior State Department official told Reuters Kerry had told Lavrov the US would not accept the results of the referendum and “urged Russia to back constitutional reform in Ukraine that would protect the rights of minorities such as Crimea’s Russian-speaking population”. “This referendum is contrary to Ukraine’s constitution, and the international community will not recognise the results of a poll administered under threats of violence and intimidation from a Russian military intervention that violates international law,” said Carney.Describing Russia’s actions as “dangerous and destabilising”, Carney condemned the Kremlin for escalating the crisis from a military occupation of Crimea a fortnight ago to carrying out “threatening military exercises on Ukraine’s eastern border”. He warned its actions would result in “increasing costs”.
Earlier in the day Dan Pfeiffer, a senior adviser to Obama, stressed that the US would not be acknowledging the outcome of the vote.“This referendum is in violation of international law,” Pfeiffer told NBC’s Meet the Press. “The United States is not going to recognise the results of that referendum.”Amid pressure on Obama from Republicans to take tougher action against Putin for his actions in Crimea, Pfeiffer declined to rule out American direct military aid to Kiev, saying only that the US was considering “all ways of assistance” in light of the Russian military occupation.The Republican senator John McCain said on Saturday during a visit to Ukraine by a bipartisan group of eight senators that the country required a “long-term military assistance programme from the United States” comprising “lethal and nonlethal” equipment to enable resistance against Russian forces.Pfeiffer said senior Russians should prepare for “sanctions designations in the coming days” from the US, which is poised to introduce asset freezes and visa bans authorised last week by Obama. And he urged Congress to pass an economic aid package for Ukraine, comprising $150m (£90m) along with $1bn in loan guarantees.“We are putting as much pressure on the Russians as we can to do the right thing,” Pfeiffer said. Of Putin, he asked: “Is he going to continue to further isolate himself, further hurt his economy, further diminish Russian influence in the world, or is he going to do the right thing?”State media in Moscow said on Sunday that Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, had made progress during a telephone conversation about the crisis.“Lavrov and Kerry agreed to continue contacts in search for a settlement of the situation in Ukraine through an earliest possible launch of constitutional reform, assisted by the world community in a generally acceptable form and with due respect for the interests of all regions of Ukraine,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement, according to Voice of Russia.Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, last week said the new government in Kiev was willing to “hold a national dialogue about additional rights and powers” that could be offered to Crimea.However, on Sunday the Russian claims were met with scepticism in Washington. “We’ve seen this movie before: we should be cautious,” Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, told CBS of the Russian read-out of the call, suggesting that the Kremlin may simply be trying to buy time.A senior State Department official told Reuters Kerry had told Lavrov the US would not accept the results of the referendum and “urged Russia to back constitutional reform in Ukraine that would protect the rights of minorities such as Crimea’s Russian-speaking population”.
Kerry also said Russia must pull back its forces to their bases and Kerry also said Russia must pull back its forces to their bases and
raised strong concerns about Russian military activities in Ukraine’s raised strong concerns about Russian military activities in Ukraine’s
Kherson oblast on Saturday, as well as continuing provocations in Kherson oblast on Saturday, as well as continuing provocations in
eastern Ukraine, the official said.eastern Ukraine, the official said.
McCain on Sunday again urged Obama to do more to punish Putin, reiterating his call for military aid and proposing the resumption of a US missile defence system in eastern Europe that was shelved when Obama came into office.“The United States of America has to first of all have a fundamental reassessment of our relationship with Vladimir Putin. No more ‘reset’ button,” McCain told CNN’s State of the Union, referring to Obama’s efforts to begin a clean slate with Moscow at the outset of his first term.Also back from the congressional visit to Ukraine, Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic majority whip, dismissed Sunday’s referendum as “a Soviet-style election” in that “we know what the ending is going to be”.McCain on Sunday again urged Obama to do more to punish Putin, reiterating his call for military aid and proposing the resumption of a US missile defence system in eastern Europe that was shelved when Obama came into office.“The United States of America has to first of all have a fundamental reassessment of our relationship with Vladimir Putin. No more ‘reset’ button,” McCain told CNN’s State of the Union, referring to Obama’s efforts to begin a clean slate with Moscow at the outset of his first term.Also back from the congressional visit to Ukraine, Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic majority whip, dismissed Sunday’s referendum as “a Soviet-style election” in that “we know what the ending is going to be”.
He told Meet the Press that the Russian intervention in Crimea was “the single most serious act of aggression since the cold war”.He told Meet the Press that the Russian intervention in Crimea was “the single most serious act of aggression since the cold war”.