Ukraine's Crimea peninsula voted on Tuesday for full independence from Ukraine in preparation for a referendum to join Russia while France threatened sanctions against Moscow as early as this week.
Pro-Kremlin militants on the flashpoint peninsula also seized control of air traffic control at its main international airport and cancelled all flights except for those from Moscow.
The latest escalation of Europe's worst crisis in decades came moments after ousted pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych defiantly vowed to return to Kiev from Russia and declared he was still the leader of the ex-Soviet state.
"As soon as the circumstances allow - and I am sure there is not long to wait - I will without doubt return to Kiev," Yanukovych told reporters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Yanukovych still enjoys Moscow's recognition and remains a political wildcard who the Kremlin says is pushing for Russia's immediate invasion of Ukraine in the most explosive East-West standoff since the Cold War.
Crimea has been a tinderbox since Russian forces seized control of the rugged peninsula - home to Moscow's Black Sea Fleet since the 18th century - with help of Kremlin-backed militias days after Yanukovych fled Ukraine last month in response to waves of deadly unrest.
The strategic region's self-declared rulers are recruiting volunteers to fight Ukrainian soldiers while Russia's parliament on Tuesday prepared legislation that would simplify the Kremlin's annexation of Crimea after Sunday's vote.
But the pro-European leaders in Kiev have rejected the referendum and are appealing to Western powers for both diplomatic backing and pressure on Moscow to release its troops' stranglehold on the region of two million people.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) responded to the threat of all-out war on Europe's eastern edge by announcing the planned deployment of AWAC reconnaissance planes in member countries Poland and Romania to monitor any Russian movements.
And French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned that sanctions against Russia could come as early as this week if Moscow failed to respond to Western proposals on the standoff.
Western officials are also expected to meet in London on Tuesday to finalize a list of Russian officials who may face asset freezes and travel restriction over their role in endangering the sovereignty of Europe's largest state.
The deep historic divide in the nation of 46 million between its pro-European west and more Russified southeast became ever more apparent as Ukraine's political crisis unfolded following Yanukovych's rejection in November of an historic EU pact.
'EU offers Ukraine trade breaks worth 500 mil. euros a year'
The EU will offer Ukraine trade breaks worth 500 million euros (US$700 million) a year as an immediate gesture of support, European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said Tuesday.
The Commission has "agreed a set of unilateral trade provisions ... equal to about 500 million euros per year," Barroso said.
This was "a concrete, tangible" measure of support for Ukraine, he added.
The savings will be made through reductions in tariffs agreed in a free trade accord negotiated with Kiev alongside an EU association pact which now-ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych ditched in November.
And World Bank president Jim Yong Kim said the bank was prepared to offer US$3 billion in aid "to undertake the reforms badly needed to put the economy on a path to sustainability."
Crimea to change name: Parliament
Crimea will not be called the Autonomous Ukrainian Republic of Crimea but the Republic of Crimea following the adoption by Crimea's parliament, the Supreme Council, of a declaration of independence on March 11, Supreme Council speaker Vladimir Konstantinov said.
"We have made an important decision, adopted an important document. We state that we have the status of a republic, we declare us the Republic of Crimea," Konstantinov told journalists.
A high-ranking source in the Crimean government said the word "autonomous" would be removed from the websites of official Crimean power bodies on March 11.
It will take time, he said, adding that "the decision has been made and it will be implemented" anyway.
Crimea's parliament adopted earlier on Tuesday a declaration of independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a national significance city in Ukraine on the Crimean Peninsula. Russia said the decision was legitimate.
Crimea's Supreme Council on March 6 decided that the autonomous Ukrainian republic would secede from Ukraine and join Russia as its constituent member. The issue was put to a referendum that would take place on March 16.
In the Soviet Union, Crimea used to be part of Russia until 1954, when Nikita Khrushchev, the first secretary of the USSR's Communist Party, transferred it to Ukraine's jurisdiction. In 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became part of newly independent Ukraine.
Crimea had the name of the Republic of Crimea in 1992, when it had its own Constitution and broader autonomy.
