Ukraine crisis: US and Russia set for key London talk

US Secretary of State John Kerry's talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov are being seen as a last-ditch effort to reduce tension in Crimea and Ukraine

US Secretary of State John Kerry is in London for key talks on Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, as a disputed referendum in Crimea looms on Sunday.

Mr Kerry is expected to warn Mr Lavrov that the referendum and Russia's military intervention in Crimea could trigger concerted US and EU sanctions.
He has warned of "very serious steps" if Russia annexes the region.
Russia insisted at the UN on Thursday it did "not want war" with Ukraine.
During an emergency meeting of the Security Council, Moscow's ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin defended the right of Crimea, which is predominantly ethnic Russian, to decide whether or not to join the Russian Federation.
Russia's military intervention followed the fall of Ukraine's pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych on 22 February.Ukrainian and Russian press reaction

The Kerry-Lavrov talks and Crimean referendum dominate the media, with Ukrainian commentators gloomy while Russian papers scent victory.
Leonid Kravchuk, Ukraine's first president, calls on the country to "immediately launch a bid to join Nato" and seek international peacekeepers, according to Den daily.
Pundit Stepan Havrysh writes in Hazeta that the referendum "will be rigged", as the "illegal Crimean authorities have simply decided to join Russia".
In Russia, Nezavisimaya Gazeta sees nothing to discuss. "Even the hottest heads in Washington now admit that the Crimea question is completely settled, a fait accompli".
Moskovsky Komsomolets tabloid draws historical parallels. "Serious people are trying to scare us by asking 'Do you realize how much it will cost to annex Crimea?' Well, how much did it cost Britain to send its navy to war with Argentina for the completely useless Falklands?"
Pro-government Izvestia sees the start of a "new ideology of reclaiming Russian lands", for which President Putin will be "forgiven everything and anything".
Russian historian Dmitry Shusharin is not so sure. "Crimea is a modern-day Pearl Harbour," he writes in the Ukrainian daily Den.

'Serious steps'

• Maps chart Crimea's troubled past

 London is now the stage for a revival of Cold War tensions.

Mr Kerry had talks with UK Prime Minister David Cameron before his meeting with the Russian foreign minister at the US ambassador's residence in central London.
Our correspondent says they will have very different accounts of events in Ukraine.
Mr Kerry will try to persuade Russia that it risks paying a heavy price in political and economic damage from American and European measures which could be triggered by Sunday's referendum.
"If there is no sign of any capacity to be able to move forward and resolve this issue, there will be a very serious series of steps on Monday in Europe and here [in Washington] with respect to the options that are available to us," Mr Kerry said before arriving in London on Friday.
Our correspondent says that while Mr Kerry seems to think the referendum itself may be all but unstoppable, he insists that it is what Russia does after that vote which counts - and Ukraine's territorial integrity must not be permanently violated.
The talks are the last opportunity for face-to-face dialogue at such a senior level before the likely vote in Crimea, our correspondent says, which could determine whether what happens next edges Ukraine away from, or deeper into, a dangerous crisis.
In a separate development on Friday, Russia called on the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to send observers to monitor Sunday's referendum in Crimea.
The Russian foreign ministry said the logistics of the mission should be in agreement with "the leadership of Ukraine's regions where (the mission) is expected to be deployed".

The talks between the two foreign ministers are taking place as the eastern city of Donetsk became embroiled in the worst violence since the fall of President Viktor Yanukovych

The talks are also taking place amid tension on Ukraine's border with Crimea, which holds a referendum on its future on Sunday

Mr Kerry has said that the outcome of Sunday's referendum in Crimea is not in much doubt, given the peninsula's historic ties to Russia and the fact that it is home to Moscow's Black Sea Fleet

The Pentagon has tried to reassure its Nato allies and partners bordering Ukraine by increasing air patrols in those areas

Mr Kerry told lawmakers before his departure to London that the US was not eager to impose further sanctions on Russia.
"Our choice is not to be put in the position of having to do that. Our choice is to have a respect for the sovereignty and independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine," he said.
The secretary of state said that he had spoken again by telephone with Mr Lavrov on Thursday ahead of their Friday meeting, and that he and his Russian counterpart had been in almost daily contact over the past two weeks.
Mr Kerry has hinted at a possible compromise to the crisis by which the Ukrainian parliament would allow Crimea to hold a referendum on self-determination - similar to Scotland's forthcoming vote in September on whether to bring an end to its 300-year old union with England.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin (R) responds to Ukraine's PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk in New York

"The constitution of Ukraine requires that any effort by any entity within Ukraine to secede be done through the constitutional process," Mr Kerry said.
He said that at the moment Russia did not "have the assets... necessary to be able to march in and take over Ukraine", although he conceded that could change in future.
But correspondents say that the signs are not good for Friday's talks, as both men have clashed in recent weeks and failed to agree on a number of US proposals.
Russia has refused to recognise the interim leadership that took over in Kiev with Mr Yanukovych's departure or participate in a contact group aimed at bringing the two countries together for talks.
'Legal vacuum' In his appearance before the UN on Thursday, Mr Churkin said that it was Kiev that was "splitting its country into two parts", not Moscow.
The referendum in Crimea, he said, had come about because of a "legal vacuum" in the country, and questioned why Crimeans should not be "afforded the opportunity" to decide on their future.
Ukraine's interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told the UN Security Council that his country was a victim of Russian aggression, producing a copy of the UN Charter to make his point that Moscow was violating it and several other international treaties.

Potentially explosive" stand-off at a Ukrainian military base in Bakhchisaray

US is circulating a resolution stating that Sunday's referendum in Crimea has no validity.
He says it knows that Russia will exercise its veto, but hopes that China will not block it, thus underscoring Russia's diplomatic isolation.
In other developments, Russia launched new military exercises near its border with Ukraine on Thursday involving more than 8,000 troops and large artillery units such as rocket launchers and anti-tank weapons.
Meanwhile, Russian media on Friday reported that Russian fighter jets and helicopters had started training flights over the Mediterranean Sea.
A spokesman for the Russian navy told Interfax news agency - quoted by Reuters - that the Russian aircraft carrier, Admiral Kuznetsov, was involved in the training exercises.
It comes a day after some of the worst violence in Ukraine since the fall of Viktor Yanukovych, with one man killed and a dozen others injured in rival rallies in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk