Russian President Putin recognises Crimea as nation
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree recognising Crimea "as a sovereign and independent state", presidential sources say.
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"This decree enters into force on the day on which it is signed," they add.
The move follows Sunday's referendum in Crimea in which officials said 97% of voters backed breaking away from Ukraine and joining Russia.
The EU and US earlier imposed sanctions on a number of officials from Russia and Ukraine over the vote.
The Russian presidential decree was issued "considering the expression of the will of the people of Crimea at the general Crimean referendum, which was held on 16 March 2014," the text of the decree said.
Earlier, the Crimean parliament formally declared independence from Ukraine and applied to join the Russian Federation.
The referendum was called by the pro-Russian authorities in Crimea after the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovych, who had sparked months of street protests by rejecting a planned EU trade deal in favour of closer ties with Moscow.
Pro-Russian forces have been in control of Crimea since late February. Moscow says the troops are pro-Russian self-defence forces and not under its direct control.
The EU, US and authorities in Kiev have rejected the referendum as illegal.
The EU and US earlier published separate lists of sanctions against both Russian and Ukrainian government officials and lawmakers, including the acting prime minister of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, and Crimea's speaker of parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov.
US President Barack Obama said in a press conference that Washington stood "ready to impose further sanctions" depending on whether Russia escalated or de-escalated the situation in Ukraine.
But he also stressed there was still a path to solve the crisis diplomatically.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the US measures reflected a desire to impose its own unilateral, unbalanced approach.