Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Western sanctions over the Crimea dispute were "unacceptable" and threatened consequences, Moscow said on Tuesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that Western sanctions over the Crimea dispute were "unacceptable" and threatened consequences, Moscow said on Tuesday.

The two senior diplomats spoke by telephone hours after President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty in the Kremlin making Ukraine's Crimea peninsula part of Russia.

"(Crimea) republic residents made their democratic choice in line with the international law and the U.N. charter, which Russia accepts and respects," a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said, "while the sanctions introduced by the United States and the European Union are unacceptable and will not remain without consequences."