The new pro-Moscow leader of Ukraine's autonomous Crimea region has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin for help to ensure peace.
A Kremlin source said it would "not leave unnoticed" the request from Sergiy Aksyonov.
Reports speak of a clash overnight in Crimea's capital and an attempt to seize a Ukrainian missile base.
Ukraine's interim Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, accused Russia of seeking to provoke an escalation.
Analysis
There is still no official confirmation of who the armed men surrounding key areas in Crimea really are. They wear uniforms without insignia and drive unidentified vehicles.
Some say they are locals organising themselves into a self-defence unit against the Ukrainian uprising. But many carry heavy weapons and appear in control of armoured personnel carriers. They seem more organised than an impromptu militia.
And yet while Ukraine's government warns that Russia has carried out a "military occupation and invasion" of Crimea, it does not feel as though it has gone that far - yet. The cities are relatively calm and there is no sign of a mass armed uprising; just the ongoing control of key sites like airports and communications buildings.
But this peninsula appears to be sliding steadily out of Kiev's control: the newly-elected Crimean prime minister now says all security and military forces here are under his command and his call to President Putin for direct help will not, says the Kremlin, be ignored. As the new Ukrainian cabinet meets, how to extend its writ here will be the urgent priority.
He was speaking at the first meeting of his cabinet, installed after the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. New Defence Minister Ihor Tenyukh accused Russia of "recently" deploying 6,000 extra soldiers to Ukraine.
US President Barack Obama warned Moscow against any military intervention as unidentified soldiers, thought to be Russian, fanned out in the south of the peninsula, surrounding airports and communications centres.
According to Mr Aksyonov, soldiers from Russia's Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea are helping to guard strategic buildings.
Under the agreement governing the presence of the fleet in Crimea, the Russians must co-ordinate all troop movements outside the fleet's base areas with the Ukrainian authorities beforehand.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said he is shocked by reports of the "violation of Ukraine's sovereignty".
Reports are coming in of a big pro-Russian rally in the east Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
'Only my orders'Heavily armed soldiers took up position outside the regional parliament in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, on Saturday.
In a statement on its website, Russia's foreign ministry said several people had been hurt when "unidentified armed people sent from Kiev" tried to seize control of Crimea's interior ministry overnight.
The attempt was rebuffed by "self-defence units", the ministry said.
According to the Ukrainian news agency Unian, Russian soldiers have been trying to take control of a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile unit near Yevpatoria, in Crimea.
It quoted an unnamed Ukrainian military source as saying 15 Russian soldiers were trying to get into the command point, where personnel were sheltering behind a reinforced door. Guards at the installation had been "neutralised", the agency said.
Mr Aksyonov, who leads the main pro-Russian party in Crimea, was elected prime minister of Crimea by the region's parliament this week in an emergency session, replacing Anatoliy Mohylyov.
In the same vote, the parliament called a referendum on the status of Crimea, a region dominated by ethnic Russians.
The Crimean prime minister has brought forward the vote to 30 March, from 25 May - the date of Ukraine's early presidential election.
Crimea
- Autonomous republic within Ukraine
- Transferred from Russia in 1954
- Ethnic Russians - 58.5%*
- Ethnic Ukrainians - 24.4%*
- Crimean Tatars - 12.1%*
- Source: Ukraine census 2001
Mr Aksyonov's election was not approved by the new authorities in Kiev, who traditionally appoint the prime minister of Crimea, in consultation with the regional parliament. Mr Aksyonov has refused to recognise Ukraine's new government.
"I appeal to the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to provide assistance in ensuring peace and tranquillity on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea," he said in a statement.
He went on to announce that he was taking control of security in Crimea "on a temporary basis".
"All commanders are to obey only my orders and instructions," Mr Aksyonov said. "I ask all those who refuse to do so to resign."
'Escalation'The new government in Kiev was formed this week by opposition parties and street activists.
Mr Yatsenyuk said: "The presence of Russian soldiers is a provocation and we demand that Russian soldiers return to their permanent bases."
"We are taking no steps that could provoke a violent confrontation," he said. "All responsibility for the escalation of the conflict lies personally at the leadership of the Russian Federation."
Viktor Yanukovych, who was deposed after months of unrest degenerated into bloodshed this month, made his first appearance in Russia on Friday, insisting he was still the legitimate president of Ukraine.
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President Obama: "Any violation of Ukraine sovereignty would be deeply destabilising"
In his address late on Friday, Mr Obama warned Russia there would be "costs" for any military intervention and commended Ukraine's interim government for its "restraint".
"Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilising, which is not in the interests of Ukraine, Russia or Europe," he said.
The US president did not spell out what any US response might be but it could take the form of economic pressure by withholding the deeper trade ties that Moscow seeks.
A G8 summit that Russia is due to host in June might also be boycotted.
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