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US President Barack Obama has urged Russia's Vladimir Putin to seek a diplomatic solution
to the crisis in Ukraine, in a lengthy telephone call.
The Russian president told Mr Obama ties between their two countries should not suffer because
of disagreements over Ukraine, the Kremlin said.
A move by Crimean MPs to seek union with Russia has heightened tensions.
The Ukrainian Paralympic team is set to decide whether it is participating in the Sochi Winter
Paralympics. The Games, which opens in the Russian Black
Sea resort later on Friday, has already been boycotted by many foreign dignitaries.
During the hour-long phone conservation, Mr Obama told Mr Putin that Russia's actions
in Crimea were a violation of Ukrainian sovereignty, the White House said in a statement.
He said there was a solution available that suited all parties, involving talks between
Kiev and Moscow, international monitors in Ukraine and Russian forces returning to their
bases. For his part, President Putin said US-Russian
"relations should not be sacrificed due to disagreements over individual, albeit extremely
significant, international problems," the Kremlin said.
It was the two leaders' second telephone call concerning Ukraine in less than a week.
Earlier on Thursday, Washington issued visa restrictions on a number of unnamed Ukrainian
and Russian officials and individuals "to deny visas to those responsible for, or complicit
in, threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".
EU leaders meeting in Brussels suspended talks with Moscow on easing travel restrictions
on Russians entering the EU. They said in a statement that if Russia did
not move to de-escalate the situation, the EU would "decide on additional measures, such
as travel bans, asset freezes and the cancellation of the EU-Russia summit".
'Illegitimate' Russia's parliament on Friday said it supported
the request by Crimean MPs on Thursday to "enter into the Russian Federation with the
rights of a subject of the Russian Federation". The Crimean parliament also said it would
seek endorsement for the move in a referendum to the Crimean people on 16 March.
Mr Putin has not yet responded publicly to Crimea's request.
The US and EU joined the Ukrainian government in condemning the move.
Ukraine's Interim President Olexander Turchynov denounced the planned referendum as "illegitimate
and unnecessary, it contradicts the will of the Ukrainian people".
He cited Article 73 of the Ukrainian constitution which says issues relating to borders must
involve a "referendum across the whole of Ukraine".