US will not recognize annexation of Crimea, Obama to meet with Ukrainian leader
On Sunday President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser announced that even if Crimea votes to leave Ukraine and move to Russia, the US would not recognized the annexation. On Wednesday, the Ukrainian Prime Minister will visit the .
Washington
罢丑别听聽will not recognize the annexation of Crimea 产测听聽if residents of the region vote to leave聽聽in a referendum next week, U.S. national security official聽聽said on Sunday.
Crimean officials have called a vote for next Sunday to confirm that the region, which has an ethnic Russian majority, is a part of聽聽in the wake of the ouster of聽'蝉听-allied president last month.
Blinken, U.S. President聽's deputy national security adviser, said on CNN's "State of the Union" program that聽聽would come under increased international pressure as a result of the referendum in Crimea.
"First, if there is an annexation of Crimea, a referendum that moves Crimea from聽听迟辞听, we won't recognize it, nor will most of the world," Blinken said.
"Second, the pressure that we've already exerted in coordination with our partners and allies will go up. The president made it very clear in announcing our sanctions, as did the Europeans the other day, that this is the first step and we've put in place a very flexible and very tough mechanism to increase the pressure, to increase the sanctions."
Obama will meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk at the聽聽on Wednesday to discuss a resolution to the Crimea situation.
Obama has said a referendum on Crimea would violate international law and the Ukrainian constitution. Last week he announced sanctions including travel bans and freezing of assets of individuals responsible for聽's military intervention in Crimea. Russian President聽聽was not among the individuals.
Russian forces have seized the Crimean peninsula, crucial to聽聽as warm-water port and home to its聽naval fleet, with a bloodless occupation that has elevated tensions with the West to their highest level since the Cold War.
Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the聽, questioned the effectiveness of sanctions against聽.
Rogers said on ABC's "This Week" program that聽's economic and energy ties to聽聽could make its own economy vulnerable if sanctions bite deeply on聽.
"You've got some problems with sanctions and how that works out and how they () can go forward without screwing up their own economy," he said.
Rogers said Putin had shown an "expansionist attitude" and that the聽聽should not underestimate "the kinds of things that he will do that he thinks is in聽's best interests."
搁别辫谤别蝉别苍迟补迟颈惫别听, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," suggested targeting the oligarchs who back Putin and boosting U.S. natural gas exports as a way of cutting into a crucial Russian business in聽.听