(14 Mar 2014) Washington and the international community won't recognise the outcome of Sunday's referendum in Crimea on seceding from Ukraine, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday after six hours of talks with Russia's foreign minister in London.
Kerry's comments came after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov acknowledged there was no "common vision" between the two nations over the crisis in Ukraine.
"I presented a number of ideas on behalf of the President (Obama) which we believe absolutely could provide a path forward for all the parties. However, after much discussion the Foreign Minister (Lavrov) made it clear that President Putin is not prepared to make any decision regarding Ukraine until after the referendum on Sunday," Kerry said.
"The United States position on that referendum, I must say, is clear and it's clear today. We believe the referendum is contrary to the constitution of Ukraine, is contrary to international law, is in violation of that law. We believe it is illegitimate."
Kerry said a ratification of the vote by the Russian parliament would amount to a "backdoor annexation of Crimea" and that there would be consequences, however he didn't state exactly what those consequences would be.
The vote in Crimea - Ukraine's strategic Black Sea peninsula of 2 (m) million people - is widely expected to back secession and possibly lead to annexation with Russia at some point.
The new government in Kiev believes the vote is illegal, but Moscow says it does not recognise the new government as legitimate.
If Crimea votes to secede, the US and the EU plan to slap sanctions as early as Monday on Russian officials and businesses accused of escalating the crisis and undermining Ukraine's new government.

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