Ukrainian border guards say Moscow has poured almost 20-thousand troops into crisis-hit Crimea.<br /><br />That is on top of the 11-thousand already permanently based with Russian Black Sea fleet in the port of Sevastopol.<br /><br />President Vladimir Putin denies that forces with no national insignia are under Moscow’s command. He has also rebuffed a US warning over military intervention.<br /><br />Following a telephone conversation with Barack Obama, Putin reiterated that his country cannot ignore calls for help from Russian speakers in the region. <br /><br />Obama announced the first sanctions against Moscow since the start of the crisis.<br /><br />Meanwhile, unarmed military observers deployed by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have been denied access to Crimea – after arriving in the Ukrainian port of Odessa.<br /><br />The crisis escalated on Thursday, when Crimea’s regional government set a referendum on the peninsula’s status for 16 March.<br /><br />The vote is coming under from the West, but it has won Russian backing. One Russian parliament leader has stressed that Crimea has a right to self-determination.
