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　　WASHINGTON — The United States has warnedRussia against stirring separatist sentiment ineastern Ukraine, following unrest in severalcities in recent days. U.S. officials said there areclear signs that pro-Russian demonstrationswere orchestrated from outside. Meanwhile,recent events in Ukraine have emboldened Russian-speaking separatists in Moldova torenew their calls for independence, with a view of joining the Russian Federation.

　　Pro-Russian demonstrators in eastern Ukraine and in Moldova are calling for a referendumsimilar to the one that led to Russia's annexation of Crimea last month.

　　In the city of Donetsk, rioters stormed the regional government building on Sunday andreplaced the Ukrainian flag on the building with a Russian one, while others watched, cheeringand chanting "Russia!

　　Pro-Russian demonstrations also took place in Kharkiv. Emily Belkina, a mother of three, saidRussians in Ukraine want autonomy.

　　"This new government came to rule with force, you understand, with guns in their hands andwe don't have our representative in the new government," said Belkina.

　　In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said there is strong evidence thatsome demonstrators were Russian agents paid to stir unrest. She said Secretary of State JohnKerry addressed the issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

　　"He called on Russia to publicly disavow the activities of separatists, saboteurs andprovocateurs, calling for de-escalation and dialogue, and called on all parties to refrain fromagitation in Ukraine,” said Psaki.

　　White House spokesman Jay Carney said Russia continues to increase its pressure on Ukraine.

　　"We see it in the troops that have massed on the border. We see it in a variety ofdevelopments internally within Ukraine, in the regions of the country where there are moreethnic Russians," said Carney.

　　Russia has said it has no intention of moving farther into Ukraine after taking over Crimea, butits actions have raised concern in other former Soviet republics.

　　Moldova is afraid of losing its Trans-Dniester region, whose Russian-speaking majority foughtan independence war in 1992 and is now renewing its calls for independence, with the idea ofultimately joining the Russian Federation.

　　Those opposed to Russian influence in Moldova held a demonstration Sunday outside theRussian embassy in the capital, Chisinau.

　　"We are here to express our resentment against Russian aggression in Moldovan Republic.We do not want the Crimean scenario here. We want our children to have [a] future,” said oneprotester.

　　U.S. and European officials will meet in the next 10 days with Russian and Ukrainian officials todiscuss how to de-escalate the crisis in Ukraine and discourage Russia from fueling tensionsin the region.