(Adds Obama's upcoming meeting with Ukraine prime minister)
WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The United States will not recognize the annexation of Crimea by Russia if residents of the region vote to leave Ukraine in a referendum next week, U.S. national security official Tony Blinken said on Sunday.
Crimean officials have called a vote for next Sunday to confirm that the region, which has an ethnic Russian majority, is a part of Russia in the wake of the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-allied president last month.
Blinken, U.S. President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, said on CNN's "State of the Union" program that Russia would come under increased international pressure as a result of the referendum in Crimea.
"First, if there is an annexation of Crimea, a referendum that moves Crimea from Ukraine to Russia, we won't recognize it, nor will most of the world," Blinken said.
"Second, the pressure that we've already exerted in coordination with our partners and allies will go up. The president made it very clear in announcing our sanctions, as did the Europeans the other day, that this is the first step and we've put in place a very flexible and very tough mechanism to increase the pressure, to increase the sanctions."
Obama will meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk at the White House on Wednesday to discuss a resolution to the Crimea situation.
Obama has said a referendum on Crimea would violate international law and the Ukrainian constitution. Last week he announced sanctions including travel bans and freezing of assets of individuals responsible for Russia's military intervention in Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin was not among the individuals.
Russian forces have seized the Crimean peninsula, crucial to Moscow as warm-water port and home to its Black Sea naval fleet, with a bloodless occupation that has elevated tensions with the West to their highest level since the Cold War.
Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, questioned the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia.
Rogers said on ABC's "This Week" program that Germany's economic and energy ties to Moscow could make its own economy vulnerable if sanctions bite deeply on Russia.
"You've got some problems with sanctions and how that works out and how they (Germany) can go forward without screwing up their own economy," he said.
Rogers said Putin had shown an "expansionist attitude" and that the United States should not underestimate "the kinds of things that he will do that he thinks is in Russia's best interests."
Representative Paul Ryan, appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," suggested targeting the oligarchs who back Putin and boosting U.S. natural gas exports as a way of cutting into a crucial Russian business in Europe. (Reporting and writing by Bill Trott; Editing by Jim Loney and Meredith Mazzilli)
Before You Go
Protestors inspect damage caused by recent anti-government protests on Independence Square following recent clashes in Kiev, Ukraine, on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014. Violence is escalating in the country of 45 million as the Russian-backed leader's security service conducts a nationwide anti-terrorism operation to end the three-month uprising.
A wounded anti-government protester is treated by medics near Independence Square on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between anti-government protesters and police, with dozens killed.
A demonstrator stands on a balcony overlooking Independence square during the face-off against heavily armed police on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev. Armed protesters stormed police barricades in Kiev on Thursday in renewed violence that killed at least 26 people and shattered an hours-old truce as EU envoys held crisis talks with Ukraine's embattled president. Bodies of anti-government demonstrators lay amid smoldering debris after masked protesters hurling Molotov cocktails and stones forced police from Kiev's iconic Independence Square.
A wounded anti-government protester is carried to a waiting ambulance on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev, Ukraine. After several weeks of calm, violence has again flared between anti-government protesters and police, with dozens killed.
Dead bodies lay covered on the ground during clashes with riot police in central Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev. At least 26 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, AFP correspondents at the scene said.
Anti-government protesters clash with police in the center of Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014.
Anti-government protesters clear ashes and debris from a newly occupied portion of Independence Square on Feb. 20, 2014, in Kiev, Ukraine.
An anti-government protester sits on the Founders of Kiev monument during clashes with riot police in central Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014. At least 26 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily-armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, AFP correspondents at the scene said.
Anti-government protesters stand behing their burning barricades during clashes with police in the center of Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014. At least 25 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, Agence France-Presse correspondents at the scene said. The bodies of eight demonstrators were lying outside Kiev's main post office on Independence Square, an AFP reporter said. The bodies of 17 other demonstrators with apparent gunshot wounds were also seen in the vicinity of two hotels on opposite sides of the protest encampment.
An anti-government protester holds a crucifix as he prays at Independence Square in Kiev, Ukraine, on Feb. 20, 2014. Ukraine's protest leaders and the president they aim to oust called a truce on Feb. 19, just hours after the military raised fears of a widespread crackdown with a vow to defeat "terrorists" responsible for seizing weapons and burning down buildings.
A heavily injured anti-government protestor is carried by fellow demonstrators during clashes with riot police in central Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014.
Anti-government protesters stand behind a 'wall of smoke' during clashes with police in the center of Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014. At least 25 protesters were killed on Feb. 20 in fresh clashes between thousands of demonstrators and heavily armed riot police in the heart of Kiev, Agence France-Presse correspondents at the scene said.