MOSCOW -- Russian legislators have asked President Vladimir Putin to stabilize the situation in Ukraine's Crimea, an autonomous republic that is the epicenter of ongoing crisis in that country.

State Duma, or lower house of the parliament, speaker Sergei Naryshkin told reporters Saturday that the Duma council had adopted an address to Putin. "Deputies are calling on the president to ... use all resources available to protect the Crimean population from lawlessness and violence," he said.