Crimea Votes To Join Russia, European Union Imposes Sanctions

 The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions including asset freezes and travel bans on a small group of officials from Russia and Ukraine after Crimea applied to join Russia on Monday following a weekend referendum.
Crimea's leaders declared a Soviet-style 97-percent result in favour of seceding from Ukraine in a vote condemned as illegal by Kiev and the West.
The Crimean parliament formally proposed that Russia "admit the Republic of Crimea as a new subject with the status of a republic". Russian President Vladimir Putin will address a special joint session of the Russian parliament on the issue on Tuesday, aides said.
The move would dismember Ukraine against its will, escalating the most serious East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.
Russian forces took control of Crimea in late February following the toppling of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich after deadly clashes between riot police and protestors trying to overturn his decision to spurn a trade and cooperation deal with the EU and seek closer ties with Russia.
U.S. President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on 11 Russians and Ukrainians blamed for the military seizure, including Yanukovich, and Vladislav Surkov and Sergei Glazyev, two aides to Putin.
Putin himself, suspected in the West of trying to resurrect as much as possible of the former Soviet Union under Russian leadership, was not on the blacklist.
Amid fears that Russia might move into eastern Ukraine, Obama warned Moscow at a White House press briefing that what he called further provocations would only increase Russia's isolation and exact a greater toll on its economy.
"If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions," he said.
A senior U.S. official said Obama's order cleared the way to sanction people associated with the arms industry and targets "the personal wealth of cronies" of the Russian leadership.
In Brussels, the EU's 28 foreign ministers agreed to subject 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials to visa restrictions and asset freezes for their roles in the events.
The EU did not immediately publish the names. Washington and Brussels said more measures could follow in the coming days if Russia does not back down and formally annexes Crimea.
A senior Obama administration official said there was "concrete evidence" that some ballots in the Crimea referendum arrived in some Crimean cities pre-marked.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who was named on the White House sanctions list, suggested that the measures would not affect those without assets abroad.



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