The European Union will not recognize the outcome of the referendum of Crimea, senior EU officials said on Sunday, calling the vote illegal and indicating that the block will respond.

Foreign Ministers of the European Union were set Monday to consider sanctions to punish Moscow on his actions in the Crimea, a day after the Ukrainian peninsula has voted to join Russia in a referendum.

The Crimean parliament said Monday the region an independent state, after its people voted overwhelmingly to break away from Ukraine and Russia seek to join.