Russia now has 30,000 troops in Ukraine's Crimea region, Ukrainian border guards said on Friday; nearly twice the previous figure given by the government in Kiev.
Serhiy Astakhov, aide to the head of border guards service, told Reuters the figure was an estimate and included both troops that had arrived since last week and Russia's Black Sea Fleet, permanently based in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
Russia, whose forces occupied the isolated peninsula last week, says the only troops it has there are those based in Sevastopol. The Russian troops that have occupied positions across Crimea wear no insignia on their uniforms but drive vehicles with Russian military plates.
Ukraine says thousands of extra troops have arrived and have fanned out across the occupied peninsula in violation of the treaty governing the base. Earlier this week Ukraine said there were a total of 16,000 Russian troops in Crimea.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said Ukraine is ready for talks with Russia, but Moscow must first withdraw its troops, abide by international agreements and halt its support for "separatists and terrorists."
He said he had requested a second telephone call with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Crimea's pro-Moscow leadership, which took power when Russian troops seized the region last week, announced on Thursday its parliament had voted to join Russia immediately and hold a referendum on the issue on March 16.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the efforts to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine are met with no understanding.
He added Moscow was not orchestrating events in Ukraine. "Quite the opposite," he said.
President Putin said Russia and the United States still stood far apart over Ukraine, but the two countries should not sacrifice relations over a disagreement on an individual, albeit very important, international problem.
In a statement issued by the Kremlin on Friday, the Russian leader told U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone call on Thursday that Ukraine's new leaders, who had come to power in an anti-constitutional coup, had imposed "absolutely illegitimate decisions on the eastern, southeastern and Crimea regions".
Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said on Friday that despite "deep disagreement" with the West over Ukraine, Moscow hopes some common ground can be found and a new Cold War will not begin, Russian news agencies reported.
"There still remains hope...that some points of agreement can be found as a result of dialogue - which our partners, thank God, have not yet rejected," state-run RIA quoted spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.
"I believe that it (a new Cold War) has not started and I would like to believe it will not start," Peskov said.
He also ridiculed calls for talks between Russia and Ukraine with Western mediation, saying Western countries' actions during the crisis in Ukraine had cost them their credibility, Russian news agencies reported.
Putin's spokesman, Peskov, also said Russia feared there would be ethnic persecution in Crimea and eastern Ukraine if "those who stood behind the coup in Kiev" reached those regions, the reports said.
Earlier, Russia accused the European Union of taking an "extremely unconstructive position" by freezing talks on easing visa barriers that complicate travel between Russia and the EU over Ukraine.
"Russia will not accept the language of sanctions and threats" and will retaliate if sanctions are imposed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement about agreements reached at an emergency EU summit on Thursday.
The Foreign Ministry also said that the NATO's decision to curb its cooperation with Moscow showed a "biased and prejudiced approach" over Ukraine.
On Wednesday, NATO announced a full review of its cooperation with Russia and said it would suspend planning for a joint mission linked to Syrian chemical weapons.
This comes as the speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament said here will be no war between Russia and Ukraine.
The Crimean parliament decided to hold a referendum on whether the region should join Russia on March 16.
US
The White House on Friday appeared to downplay the possibility of changing U.S. policy on exporting natural gas to address the situation in Ukraine.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Air Force One that policy changes would not have an immediate effect and noted that stocks in Europe were above normal levels because of a mild winter.
Europe and Ukraine are key export markets for Russian natural gas.
France
France's foreign minister said on Friday that if a first round of sanctions did not succeed against Russia in the wake of its military intervention in Ukraine, a second could follow, targeting Russian businesses and people close to President Vladimir Putin.
"If there are not very swift results, there will be new measures aimed at those responsible and Russian businesses," Laurent Fabius told France Info radio.
Ukrainian Paralympic chief
Ukrainian Paralympic chief, Valeriy Sushkevich, said on Friday his team would pull out of the Winter Paralympic Games if Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
"I am very afraid that despite the world's wishes and my call that the irreversible will happen during the Paralympics. I declare: we will pull out of the 11th Paralympic Games in Russia that very second if the thing we fear and which we are against ... happens," he told a news conference, clearly referring to a possible invasion by Russian troops into Ukraine.
OSCE
Military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have, for the second day in a row, been unable to enter Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, the body said in a post on Twitter.
"Military assessment visitors from OSCE States denied entry into Crimea on Friday, heading back to Kherson to plan next steps," it said. Kherson is the nearest big down north of the peninsula.
REUTERS
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