TALLINN/VILNIUS (Reuters) - The European Union will start preparing further responses to Russia's actions in Ukraine if Moscow does not show signs of backing down by the weekend, Germany's foreign minister said on Tuesday, a warning echoed by the Polish prime minister.
Since the fall of Ukraine's president to pro-Western unrest, Russian forces have consolidated their hold on Ukraine's Crimea peninsula ahead of a Russian-backed referendum on the region's future on Sunday. The new government in Kiev and its Western backers have denounced the planned vote as illegal.