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1 Ukraine’s east-west standoff intensified this week as the nation’s new government
HUFFINGTON
03.09.14
in Kiev worked to establish its legitimacy. Meanwhile, pro-Moscow leaders in the
west voted for Crimea to leave Ukraine and join Russia, and set a referendum for
residents of the disputed peninsula to vote on the matter. President Obama said
Thursday that the referendum would violate the constitution, and that any decisions
on the future of Crimea must include the nation’s new government. “We are well
beyond the days when borders can be redrawn over the heads of democratic leaders,”
he said. The U.S. banned visas for anyone deemed “responsible for or complicit in”
threatening Ukraine’s sovereignty Thursday. Ukrainian interim Prime Minister Arseniy
Yatsenyuk called the Crimea efforts to break away “an illegitimate decision.”