President Putin is trying to protect the Russian compatriots in Ukraine but don't forget, he also has to protect the Russians in Russia too. He had a 3 hour talk with the Swiss president of the OSCE and they were very agreeable towards Russia's position. I found that article in Komsomolskaya Pravda "Putin asked the southeast of Ukraine referendum move". Also there's a petition with 60,000 signatures in the European Parliament to classify the Right Sector as a terrorist organization. If it's approved by the EC then some of the Ukrainian parliament will be arrested and have their assets frozen. And that includes all the Right Sector activists in Ukraine. And Merkel wants to set up a "round table" conference with leaders from both West and East Ukraine to help resolve their differences.

The EU is obviously concerned about how much serious sanctions would damage Europe. If President Putin can resolve the issues with diplomacy it will save a lot of lives.
Btw, Donetsk and Luhansk voted to not postpone the referendum. That was also in Komsomolskaya Pravda "In Lugansk and Donetsk decided not to postpone a referendum on the status of the region".