Kerry: We won’t recognise Crimea independence vote

Washington and the international community won’t recognise the outcome of tomorrow’s referendum in Crimea on seceding from Ukraine, US secretary of State John Kerry said after six hours of talks with Russia’s foreign minister.

His comments came after Russian foreign minister Lavrov acknowledged there was no “common vision” between the two nations over the crisis.

Tomorrow’s vote on Crimea — Ukraine’s strategic Black Sea peninsula of 2 million people — is expected to back secession and, potentially, annexation with Russia. The new Kiev government believes the vote is illegal, but Moscow says it does not recognise the new government as legitimate.