THE leader of Crimea has seized on next week's Scottish referendum as a sign Europe must recognise Russian control of the peninsula.

Desperate for any hint of international legitimacy, Sergei Aksyonov equated the independence vote with March's controversial plebiscite that put the once Ukrainian region into the hands of the Kremlin.

Crimea's predominantly ethnically and linguistically Russian voters opted for the Black Sea peninsula to rejoin the Russia Federation after half a century in Ukraine. However, they did so while their region was effectively occupied by what most people believe to have been Russian soldiers. Neither the West, nor Ukraine, have recognised the results of the poll.

Mr Aksyonov, a key Kremlin ally, said: "If the results of the referendum in Scotland are recognised that will mean that Crimea should be recognised by EU states automatically, without any questions and without any doubts."

The prime minister, speaking in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, is just the latest pro-Kremlin figure to effectively accuse the West of hypocrisy over Crimea while clearily intending to respect the democratic will of the people of Scotland.

Refering to Western Sanctions on Russia and conflict in eastern Ukraine following the March vote, he said: "I will be very interested to see how European countries behave in comparison with with us. Will they also announce sanctions against Scotland? Will they start shooting or sending in tanks?"

Crimean unionists - those who favoured rejoining Russian - showed a great deal of interest in the Scottish vote long before Ukraine imploded late last year. Mr Aksyonov suggested Crimeans empathised with Scots. He said: "We support this referendum from the point of view that the vast majority of people are taking a decision on their statehood."

Russia, despite using Scotland as a propaganda tool in its dispute with Ukraine, has introduced tough criminal sanctions against separatists inside its own borders and President Vladimir Putin earlier this year said he believed Scots "should not forget that being part of a single, strong state has some advantages and one should not overlook this".

Eduard Limonov, a prominent Russian dissident and one-time founder of the country's controversial National Bolshevik Party, an electic mix of far right and far left politics, on Wednesday declared his support for Scotland. "They Scot won't perish," he said. "Nothing terrible will happen."

As Others See Us: The view from Crimea