Friday 07 March 2014 15.24 Russian President Vladimir Putin has rebuffed a warning from US President Barack Obama over Russia's military intervention in Crimea.
He said Russia could not ignore calls for help from Russian speakers in Ukraine.
After an hour-long telephone call, Mr Putin said in a statement that Russia and the US were still far apart on the situation in the former Soviet republic.
He said the new authorities there had taken "absolutely illegitimate decisions on the eastern, southeastern and Crimea regions".
"Russia cannot ignore calls for help and it acts accordingly, in full compliance with international law," Mr Putin said.
Ukraine's border guards said Russia had poured troops into the southern peninsula where Russian forces have seized control.
Serhiy Astakhov, an aide to the border guards' commander, said there were now 30,000 Russian soldiers in Crimea.
That compares to the 11,000 permanently based with the Russian Black Sea fleet in the port of Sevastopol before the crisis.
Mr Putin denies that the forces with no national insignia surrounding Ukrainian troops in their bases are under Moscow's command, although their vehicles have Russian military plates.
The West has ridiculed this claim.
The most serious east-west confrontation since the end of the Cold War - resulting from the overthrow last month of President Viktor Yanukovych after violent protests in Kiev - escalated yesterday when Crimea's parliament, dominated by ethnic Russians, voted to join Russia.
The region's government set a referendum for 16 March.
European Union leaders and Mr Obama denounced the referendum as illegitimate, saying it would violate Ukraine's constitution.
The head of Russia's upper house of parliament said after meeting with Crimean politicians that Crimea had a right to self-determination, and ruled out any risk of war between "the two brotherly nations".
Before calling Mr Putin, Mr Obama announced the first sanctions against Russia since the start of the crisis, ordering visa bans and asset freezes against so far unidentified persons deemed responsible for threatening Ukraine's sovereignty.
Japan endorsed the Western position that the actions of Russia constitute "a threat to international peace and security", after Mr Obama spoke to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
China, often a Russian ally in blocking Western moves in the UN Security Council, was more cautious saying that economic sanctions were not the best way to solve the crisis and avoiding comment on the legality of a Crimean referendum on secession.
The EU, Russia's biggest economic partner and energy customer, adopted a three-stage plan to try to force a negotiated solution but stopped short of immediate sanctions.
The Russian Foreign Ministry responded angrily, calling the EU decision to freeze talks on visa-free travel "extremely unconstructive" and warning that Russia would retaliate against any sanctions.
The EU and the US also rushed to strengthen the new authorities in economically shattered Ukraine, announcing both political and financial assistance.
Promises of billions of dollars in Western aid for the Kiev government, and the perception that Russian troops are not likely to go beyond Crimea into other parts of Ukraine, have helped reverse a rout in the local hryvnia currency.
In the past two days it has traded above 9.0 to the dollar for the first time since the Crimea crisis began last week.
Local dealers said emergency currency restrictions imposed last week were also supporting the hryvnia.
Interpol considering Yanukovych arrest request
Meanwhile, Interpol has said it is considering a request from Ukraine's new government to issue an arrest warrant for Mr Yanukovych.
The international police organisation confirmed it had received a request from authorities in Kiev on Wednesday to issue a "Red Notice", or international wanted persons alert, for Mr Yanukovych on charges including abuse of power and murder.
The request "is being assessed by Interpol's office of legal affairs to determine whether it conforms with the organisation's constitution and rules", it said in a statement.
"All Interpol member countries have been informed of the ongoing review."
Ukraine's interim prosecutor said on 26 February that the government in Kiev had requested an international arrest warrant for Mr Yanukovych over the "mass murder" of protesters during the anti-government demonstrations that toppled the pro-Russian leader four days earlier.
At the time, Mr Yanukovych's whereabouts were unknown, though he resurfaced in Russia two days later.
Russia is an Interpol member, but the organisation stressed that it "cannot compel any member country to arrest the subject of a Red Notice".
Mr Yanukovych was ousted after weeks of protests after he refused to sign a landmark association accord with the European Union.
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