US warns Russia ahead of Sunday’s Crimea vote

US secretary of state John Kerry warned Russia that Washington and Europe were preparing a tough response to a breakaway vote in Ukraine’s Crimea, depending on how Moscow reacts.

Russia’s national security team was meeting in Sochi, Kerry told US lawmakers as he prepared to fly to London for last-ditch talks today with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

And without doubt Moscow will respond in some way to Sunday’s referendum, Kerry said.

“If there is no sign of any capacity to be able to move forward and resolve this issue, there will be a very serious series of steps on Monday in Europe and here with respect to the options that are available to us,” he warned.

“Our choice is not to be put in the position of having to do that. Our choice is to have a respect for the sovereignty and independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” the top US diplomat told the Senate appropriations committee.

“I don’t think there’s much doubt given the circumstances what the vote is going to be” on the pro-Moscow peninsula which has historic ties to Russia and is home to its Black Sea Fleet.

“This is not a question mark. The question mark is: is Russia prepared to find a way to negotiate with Ukraine, with the contact group, with the countries involved, in order to resolve this in a way which respects their legitimate interests ... in a way which doesn’t violate international law?”

Kerry told the lawmakers the US estimated there were currently about 20,000 Russian troops on the Crimea peninsula, below the 25,000 allowed under an agreement with Moscow on stationing its bases there.

And he stressed that for the time being Russia did not “have the assets ... necessary to be able to march in and take over Ukraine,” although he acknowledged that could change.

The two men have clashed in recent weeks on how to end the crisis over Ukraine, with Lavrov so far rejecting a series of proposals put forward by his American counterpart.

Russia announced it had started military exercises near the border with Ukraine in what is likely to be seen as a show of force in the standoff with Kiev and the West over Crimea.

Separately, the ministry said Russia had sent six Su-27 jet fighters and three military transport planes to ally Belarus, responding to a request prompted by joint US-Polish exercises in Nato nation Poland, Interfax reported.

The defence ministry confirmed exercises had begun in the Southern Military District near the Ukrainian border.