Friday 14 March 2014 15.11 US Secretary John Kerry is in London on a mission to head off a possible Russian annexation of Crimea on the heels of a breakaway vote by the Ukrainian region.
Mr Kerry held talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague at Downing Street this morning.
Mr Hague said it will be "formidably difficult" for Mr Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to make progress on defusing the Ukraine crisis today.
Mr Cameron underlined the threat of sanctions against Russia as he met Mr Kerry for a breakfast meeting.
He said: "We want to see progress, we want to see the Russians and Ukrainians talking to each other and if they don't there are going to have to be consequences."
Mr Kerry is meeting Mr Lavrov in an attempt to halt any moves by Russian President Vladimir Putin to swiftly annex Crimea.
The meeting comes amid a deepening diplomatic stand-off and an upsurge in violence in the east of Ukraine, where two people were killed during clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian demonstrators.
Russia said the clashes showed the Ukrainian authorities had lost control and it reserved the right to protect compatriots there.
Last night, the US circulated a draft resolution in the UN Security Council condemning Sunday's referendum through which Crimea could opt to join the Russian Federation.
However, Russia has indicated it will veto the resolution.
The US is still calling on Russia to withdraw its troops to their bases on the Crimean Peninsula and to recognise the new government in Kiev.
However, Russia maintains that Sunday's referendum complies with international law.
Amid the diplomatic stand-off, Russia continues to carry out military exercises on Ukraine's borders, while its troops maintain a tight grip on military and public institutions in Crimea.
About 58% of the Crimean population is Russian-speaking and a majority is thought to want to join the Russian Federation.
However, Crimean Tatars and Ukrainian speakers largely oppose the vote and have threatened to boycott it.
The European Union will announce sanctions against Russia on Monday if the referendum goes ahead as expected.
Russia has called on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to send its observers to monitor the referendum.
The foreign ministry said it "calls on the leadership of the OSCE, its member states and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to renounce the practice of 'double standards' and positively consider an invitation from the Crimean authorities to take part in monitoring the upcoming referendum".
Meanwhile, Russia accused the US of "unacceptable" discrimination against Russian journalists by barring them from a news conference yesterday given by US President Barack Obama and Ukraine's prime minister.
"It seems that in Washington, where they so love to talk about freedom of speech and journalists' rights, they are not ready to follow these principles themselves, preferring to deal only with 'approved' media propagating the 'required' information," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Mr Obama met Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk to show support for Ukraine in its standoff with Russia over Crimea.
Kremlin website hit by powerful 'cyberattack'
Hackers knocked out the Russian presidency's website several times this morning and brought down the central bank website, the Kremlin press service said.
"A powerful cyber attack is under way on the (Kremlin) site," a Kremlin spokeswoman said, adding that the attack was continuing and security experts were trying to prevent further disruptions.
She did not say who was believed to be behind the cyberattack.
Russian jets hold military exercises over Mediterranean
Russian fighter jets and helicopters have started training flights over the Mediterranean Sea, a Russian navy spokesman said.
He told Interfax news agency the Northern Fleet's Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier was involved in the exercises, and the training included tactics for engaging aerial targets and other battle techniques.
The US Navy has sent a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Truxtun, to the Black Sea on what it said was a routine deployment scheduled before the crisis in Ukraine.
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