Russia warns US against 'hasty and reckless' sanctions

In a phone call with his US counterpart John Kerry, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the US not to take "hasty and reckless steps" in response to the crisis in Ukraine's Crimea region.

Lavrov said imposing sanctions on Moscow would harm the US, adding that the sanctions would hit the US "like a boomerang."

Pro-Russian troops have been in control of Crimea for the last week.

Earlier, a stand-off involving pro-Russian soldiers at a Ukrainian military base outside Sevastopol reportedly ended without incident.

Crimea's parliament announced on Thursday it would hold a referendum on 16 March on whether to join Russia or remain part of Ukraine.

Russia's parliament has promised to support Crimea if it chooses to become part of Russia.

Valentina Matvienko, speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament, assured Vladimir Konstantinov, Crimean parliament's speaker, on Friday that the region would be welcomed as "an absolutely equal subject of the Russian Federation if a referendum on March 16 was in favour of the move".

The speaker of the Russian lower house, Sergei Naryshkin, echoed Matviyenko's remarks. "We will respect the historic choice of the people of Crimea," he said.

Konstantinov met top politicians in Moscow before joining a rally in Red Square, which was attended by an estimated 65,000 people, many of whom waved Russian flags and chanted "Crimea is Russia!''

Matvienko's statement came after Arseny Yatsenyuk, Ukraine's prime minister, said his country was ready for talks with Russia, but on the condition that the Kremlin withdraw troops from Crimea and agree to stop supporting "separatists and terrorists".

"We have declared our readiness to hold talks with the Russian government," Yatseniuk said, listing a number of conditions, including withdrawing troops and "halting support for the separatists and terrorists in Crimea".

But there seemed to be little hope of those conditions being met. Russia's Foreign Ministry on Friday accused the EU, one of Yatsenyuk's primary backers, of taking an "extremely unconstructive position" by threatening sanctions.