Updated March 6, 2014 8:31 a.m. ET
Russia's national flag and Crimea's regional flag are seen on a building of Council of Ministers in Simferopol on March 5. Reuters
The Moscow-backed government of Crimea said Thursday that it will hold a referendum on whether to formally secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation, dramatically escalating tension as the West tries to negotiate a withdrawal of Russian troops from the region.
The announcement of the regionwide vote—which was pushed forward two weeks to March 16—comes as Western diplomats are huddled in Rome with their Russian counterparts to end the standoff, and just two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country wasn't interested in annexing Crimea. On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had said although talks had been fitful, he was hopeful a settlement could be reached.
A Russian move to absorb Crimea against the will of Ukraine would mark the first time since World War II that such a maneuver had been attempted in Europe.
Shortly after the Crimean Parliament announced the coming vote, the White House said it had ordered sanctions and visa restrictions against officials "responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." European leaders threatened sanctions of their own if Russia failed to withdraw its troops from Crimea of engage in talks to defuse the situation.
Crimea has been under de facto military occupation since the weekend, when thousands of heavily armed men—wearing unmarked uniforms but widely believed to be Russian soldiers from the country's Black Sea Fleet, which is based in the region—seized key locations on the peninsula and effectively cut it off from the rest of Ukraine. Last week, gunmen took over the parliament and presided over the installation of a new pro-Russian governor for the region.
Crimea's parliament said in a statement that the move was being taken "as a the result of the unconstitutional coup" that put a new government in place in Kiev last month and the "flagrant violation of the laws of Ukraine" by nationalist forces since the ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
The pro-Russian regional government said the vote would now be held on March 16. A referendum on the more vaguely described issue of increased autonomy from Kiev had initially been set for May 25, the same day Kiev's new government has set to pick the country's next president, but later moved forward to March 30.
The move sent Russian shares down, and in afternoon trading Moscow's Micex index was 2.4% lower, while the RTS index was down 3.2%.
Shortly after issuing the announcement, Crimea's parliament itself voted separately on joining Russia. Lawmakers voted for secession, but said the final decision will rest with the people, predicting that the outcome would be "a confirmation of today's vote." The government also directed an appeal to Mr. Putin, asking if his country would be prepared to absorb Crimea.
Earlier this week, Mr. Putin said Russia wasn't interested in annexing Crimea, and that "only the citizens themselves can determine their own future." Shortly after the Crimean parliament had acted, the Kremlin said Mr. Putin had discussed the possibility of Crimea becoming part of Russia during a meeting of Russia's security council.
In Moscow, the Russian parliament was preparing to move up consideration of a draft law that would ease the annexation of new territories to Russia and officials said it could be passed in time for the referendum.
Legislators said they are likely to move forward consideration of a draft law that would make it possible for Russia to accept breakaway regions of other countries without the consent of the country from which they are seceding. It would require only a referendum of the people on the territory in favor of becoming part of Russia and the passage of a law in Russia accepting the new constituent. The changes were proposed Feb. 28 and the pro-Kremlin legislators who offered them specifically cited the situation in Ukraine in explaining their proposal.
"If an absolute majority of citizens vote to join Russia in the referendum and a relevant request is forwarded to the president of Russia, this issue may be resolved within a very short time, like three to five days," Anatoly Lyskov, a member of the Russia's Federation Council's constitutional legislation and judicial issues committee, told the Interfax new agency.
Russia's occupation of Crimea is building on non-military tracks. Plus, the EU said it would make at least $15 billion in grants and loans available for Ukraine. Photo: AP.
Russian President Vladimir Putin comments on the situation in Ukraine during a presser at the Novo- Ogaryovo presidential residence outside Moscow on Tuesday. Photo: Associated Press
The referendum on March 16 will ask voters whether they support "reunification with Russia" or if they agree to remain within Ukraine but with the substantial autonomy from the central government that the region has operated under since 1992.
The parliament said that the decision will be based off the results of a simple majority of voters.
On Wednesday, Crimea's regional parliament speaker, Vladimir Konstantinov, said that laws allowing for such a referendum didn't yet exist but would be drafted in time for a vote on the matter.
Sergei Tsekov, a legislator from Crimea's Russian Unity party, said the parliamentary vote was taken in a closed session and about three-quarters of the representatives voted to join Russia.
"There was no need for observers because we're all honest people in there," he said when asked why the session was closed.
"It's not as quick as you may think it is, we've been planning this for the last 10 days," he said, without elaborating.
"I'm sure the majority of Crimeans will applaud this move today. I'm sure that, like me, they are all eager to join their brothers in Russia."
Outside the parliament, about 200 demonstrators waved Russian flags after the vote. In the past week, Crimea's parliament has debated changing the region's time zone to Moscow time and legislation adopting the Russian ruble if Crimea opts to secede.
The high commissioner on national minorities for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Astrid Thors, said in Kiev that there were concerns about whether a legitimate vote could be held given the time frame and the large presence of military personnel on the peninsula.
"We have concerns and are not sure there will be an expression of free will," she said.
Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com and Margaret Coker at margaret.coker@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Sergei Tsekov is a legislator from Crimea's Russian Unity party. A previous version of the story misspelled his surname as Tserkov.
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