Crimea decided that it would declare itself an independent state if residents opt to split off from the Ukraine in a referendum set for Sunday.

The local parliament's manoeuvre could offer a way to play down the crisis as the status of the autonomous region becomes the subject of bargaining between the US and Russia.

Moscow's troops are currently occupying the Crimea, ostensibly to protect Russians in the region amid increasing lawlessness after oligarchs with fascist backing ripped power from a rival capitalist faction in Kiev.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych - who fled to Russia after being violently removed from power - accused the coup government of fomenting a civil war and chastised the West for supporting it.

He said the new Kiev regime could use military force agains the Russian-speaking eastern regions that made up his support base.

Mr Yanukovych said the May 25 presidential vote is illegal and added that he would call on the US to halt financial aid to the "bandit regime" in Ukraine.

He pledged to return to the Ukraine soon.

Meanwhile the coup government showed no signs of easing the tension as "acting president" Oleksandr Turchynov called for the formation of a national guard.

Coup Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who's due to meet US President Barack Obama today, urged Western powers to defend Ukraine against a nation "that is armed to the teeth and that has nuclear weapons."

The rump parliament passed a resolution calling on the US and Britain to "use all possible diplomatic, political, economic and military measures for an immediate stopping of aggression."