MOSCOW : Fuel for the Fire

The bitter feud that broke out between Russia and Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union appears certain to intensify this week when lawmakers in the Crimea, a predominantly Russian region of Ukraine, consider a referendum on the peninsula’s independence--a step most see as a prelude to reunification with Russia.

With more than a quarter of a million signatures on petitions demanding such a referendum, the Crimean Supreme Soviet is expected to set the vote for July or August despite warnings from Ukrainian President Leonid M. Kravchuk that it would only lead to bloody confrontations among the Russians, Ukrainians and Tatars.