will tell you, we want to have a future -- >> we're out of time, ollie, thank you to all of our guests, have a great evening. >> an invitation to enter crimea. a letter from the former prime minister viktor yanukovych, asking for help. >> hello, welcome to al jazeera america live from doha. also... >> this says vladimir putin, my children are afraid of your defenders. >> we meet the tatars who fear a future under russian control. >> in other new, we are in venezuela looking at the financial forces behind the

protest there. saudi arabia insists all foreign fighters must leave syria and will face justice if they committed crimes. plus... >> 3, 2, 1, go. some call it the last great race. iditarod 2014 gets under way in alaska. >> hello, russia says it has a legal basis for its intervention in ukraine. it says former president viktor yanukovych asked for russia's help, and there appears to be no sign that russia intends to pull its troops out of crimea's region. the international pressure on russia is mounting. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry is due to meet ukraine's leaders on tuesday to show support. the u.s. is suspending military exercises and trade talks with russia, and says it may consider sanctions. meanwhile the international body that keeps an eye on security in

europe is conducting a fact-finding mission in ukraine. >> diplomatic editor james bays has this report from the united nations in new york. >> the third security council meeting about ukraine in four days. this time it was called by the russian ambassador, and it soon became clear why. church -- vitaly churkin had a letter from the former president viktor yanukovych. russia is accused of invading crimea. "no, we were invite in." it prompted strong condemnation from other ambassadors. >> russia had every right to wish events in ukraine turned out differently. it does not have the right to show that by using military force and trying to convince the community that up is down and black is white.

>> russians claim that mr viktor yanukovych called for russian military intervention. we are talking about a former leader who abandoned his office, capital and his country. the idea that his pronouncements convey legitimacy is farr fetched and in keeping with russia's bogus reasons. >> that letter you have there, do you believe it makes your military intervention in crimea legal? >> well, we believe that the person who we believe legally is president of ukraine also shares our concerns, the concerns of a large segment of the ukrainian population about what is going on. it's appealing to russia to use the armed forces to change the situation and prevent it from further deteriorating. western nations say that russia invieweded crimea, a breach of international law and this the

u.n. charter. russia produced the letter, saying they produced an alert that got a request from the legitimate president of ukraine. a global crisis, difficult and dangerous got more complicated. in a moment we'll be live in moscow with rory challands, but first let's go to crimea where laurence lee is standing buy. what is the latest on the situation at the airport there? >> yes, it's now five hours since the supposed ultimatum which was that the russians would storm the military bases. in fact, it's been the most extraordinary series of events in the last hour or so, which suggests something that actually almost the opposite of that ultimatum and took place at the sevastopol airport, known as

belbat. the russians are there the small contingens came out off the base unarmed and carrying a ukrainian and a soviet flag from the second world war and approached the armed russian troops, asking them to have permission to look after their own aircraft on the runway. there was a tense negotiation went on, reports of shots being fired into the air by the russians, but the ukrainian contingent carried on walking. they were joined, we are told as well, by some of their wives. as of now there hasn't been any violence there. no one has been attacked. we are told that potentially there may be a deescalation and potentially ukrainian soldiers allowed to look after their own aircrafts. what does that say about the situation. what does it say about the

ukrainians carrying a soviet flag in brotherhood with the russian troops. does this mean the ukrainian troops see themselves on the side of the russian forces, does it mean they don't want to fight? absolutely, because they didn't carry arms. >> did the russians want to fight them? absolutely not, they absolutely don't. it lends a different perspective. we have seen potentially something that says there may not be an appetite on either side for a confrontation, but what does it say about the government in kiev and their relationship with the troops here, and the potential for the russians to bring people over. it's an interesting situation. i can't tell you what the answers are. i have seen no sign of an asult by the russians. it's important to point out that the russian forces enjoy

support, part of a pretext of them mobilising there to begin with. >> yes, since the start they said that this is not app invasion, it's a protective defensive measure, and on land and at sea in the harbour, what they have down is surround places. that is not to say that they want to go in and have a fight. it's to stop what they would see as fascist elements from kiev or troops here controlled by fascist elements from kiev attacking the pro-russian majority civilian population. whether you believe it, because we have seen no sign of fascist elements here at all, and no sign of the ukrainian soldiers wanting to engage in a fight as evidence of the situation at the sevastopol airport. certainly the russians want to be seen here as nonaggressive. given that they have been approached by a group of ukrainians without arms, there's no way in the world they would have wanted to be seen to be

firing on unarmed ukrainian soldiers. that would be disastrous for them. >> laurence lee reporting there from crimea. >> the united states and the european union are both considering sanctions against russia. what are they likely to comprise, and how much bite will they have. one of the russia's main income streams is oil and gas. the e.u. imports a third of its gas from russia, any sanctions targetting gas could hurt the e.u. more than russia. to consider going down this road the e.u. needs to work with the u.s. and others to help cut its reliance on russian energy. the u.s. called a halt, but there's a question over existing ties. the u.s. imports $27 billion worth of russian goods and exports $11 billion.

the u.s. barack obama is considering sanctions against russian officials, including asset feeses and visa bans. rory challands joins us live from moscow. we are outlining the options. hearing - we have lost the connection to rory. apologies for that. we'll move on for now. not everyone in crimea is happy with russia's increased involvement. we have a report on the fears of the tatar population and their problems with the ethnic russian population. >> this has been the loudest criticism of russia's military take over of the crimea since it began last friday. most of the women are crimean tatars, a well organised educated minority horrified by the intervention. >> i'm afraid. i see that people are afraid. i see the fear in their eyes.

we can feel that -- we cann feel that we are safe. >> the edge of town may be a greater place to agitate. >> this is a clear sign that not everyone in crimea thinks that this has been a liberation. in fact, this sign sums it up perfectly. putin, my children are afraid of your defenders. >> the defenders russia sent surround military bases like this, in the ethnically mixed town. russian troops, according to the creme line they are to protect the russian speaking community. >> this woman is tat tar, her daughter-in-law russian and her grandson a ukrainian recruit. >> translation: who are they defending us from.

let them find a russian person who has been humiliated. show them one. who has been forbidden to speak russian. i'm a russian speaker and i'm ethnic tatar. in this village i met a group of men. this is a time of deep insecurity. >> we are organising ourselves as crimean tartars to no one can cause trouble. >> history has not been kind to the tatars, few believe that the new crimea offers a promising future. >> a lot more ahead on the show. when we come back the highest ranking al qaeda member to be prosecuted in a u.s. court. we'll have more on the trial of osama bin laden's

[ ♪ music ] >> hello again. the top stories on al jazeera. russia told the u.n. security council it was asked by deposed president viktor yanukovych to send troops into the country. moscow says ethnic russians are facing violence and persecution. the u.s. and other nations kaud it unjustified. washington suspended joint military exercises and is looking for ways to further isolate moscow. >> let's get a few from moscow. rory, we were talking earlier about the threat of sanctions from the west and the various options open to them.

none of which are particularly palatable or effective at this point. and presumably the russians know that. >> yes, they certainly do know that. there are a number of developments that have taken place today. i'll go through them all. i start with the issue of sanctions. as you say, there are things talked about from the west, particularly from the united states about what can be done to try and put pressure on russia. so the united states cancelled some of its military exercises, some of its military cooperation with russia and put on hold various trade talks as well. now, there are probably going to be harsher sanctions in the pipeline, at least that is what the americans are hinting at. and we are getting a sense now that russia is trying to work out what it can do to push back, and so we are hearing that russia is suspended its decision on the pork band that is

currently in place with the u.s. russia doesn't import pork kushtly. it was due -- currently. it was due to re-evaluate that decision, but it is not going to at the moment. that's an idea about what they are doing to push back. also, this is something that is being floated around the russian media. we heard from one of vladimir putin's advisors, a man called sergay glagiav. who says there could be the possibility of russia reducing its reliance on the dollar. we'll have to see how that develops. the other thing that moves is the economy. yesterday was disastrous for the economy. the market sliding 10%, and the dollar fell - sorry, the dollar strengthened against the rooubel. that has shifted back the other way today, so the markets are creeping up and the ruble

strengthened against the dollar. the economic position is looking better today than it was yesterday. >> rory challands there in moscow for us. thanks for that. >> now in venezuela fresh clashes have broken out between anti-government protesters and police in caracas. riot teams using tear gas to disperse protesters who block the road in an upmarket neighbourhood. gaoled opposition leader leopoldo lopez urges supporters to continue rallying against president nicolas maduro. >> some of the reasons that led to the protests are inflation and shortages of basic items. ross shimabuku went to valentia to find out how the venezuelans are coping with the economic problems. >> early morning at the valentia's markets and it's bustling. the tur mile in the city forgotten, at least for now. fertile land surrounds the city.

all sides in the political divide working together in order to live. >> translation: what we are waiting for is an end to the problems. so we can take food home to the kid. there was just a few people causing problems. that's all we lack in this country. >> i'm a chavez supporter. i went to support him when he was in prison. he had a vision for venezuela. there's an abundance of fresh produce. despite roadblocks, crime and corruption have been rampant in venezuela for some time. many vital items are missing. >> there's no milk, flower or sugar, the most important things. they are not there, stop fighting, and pay attention to

the people that need food. that is all that people are asking for. >> libya is searching for sugar and power, without love. she'll have to make do with whatever she can find. >> translation: i've got two kids, i have to give them other things, because there's no flour for bread and it will be without sugar. >> what the counter situations means is that shoppers spend endless lost hours in long queues, walking from one store to another, searching for vital ingredients, with limited success. what is not in doubt is the abaundance of natural resources. with markets like this one thriving across the country. life goes on. despite problems with distribution, the economy and politics. >> there have been no reports of disruption causing hunger or starvation. the longer it goes on, the more

venezuelans are forced to stretch their patience and resourcefulness to put food on the table. >> saudi arabia is demanding all foreign fighters leave syria and face justice if they committed war crimes. they are concerned that saudi nationals may turn their attention against the kingdom. joshua landis is an expert at the university of oklahoma. saying there is evidence that saudi nationals are involved in the syrian war. >> there's supposed to be between 7,000 and 11,000 foreign fighters. there's a debate whether there's more foreign fighters fighting on the side of the syrian government, including several thousand hezbollah and many iraqis and some other shiites who come to fight on the side of the syrian governments. as opposed to a real

international pot puree coming to fight on the side of the rebel forces. many saudis, and we have seen videos of saudis engaged in suicide car bombs, who made preliminary videos before blowing themselves up. there's quite a few sawedies. fund raisers and so forth who made a name for themselves in syria. the trial of osama bin laden's son-in-law has begun in new york. he's accused of conspiring to kill americans in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack. he's the highest ranking to be taken to court. >> we know that the government has photographs and videotape of

osama bin laden's son with him in the days after the attack of september 11, 2001. as well as of recordings of him threatening attacks against the men's. the star witness is held in a prison in the u.k. for his involvement in the infamous shoe bombing case that plotted to take down planes over the atlantic ocean. attorneys are saying that the government has no direct evidence that their client was a member of al qaeda, or knew of any plot against americans, much less planned any attack over americans. they, the defense are hoping to include testimony from the self-protested master mind as part of their defense. that is looking a bit uncertain at this time as the trial gets under way. written answers have been provided to questions, that the

defense submitted the questions, and the judge is refusing to allow - to delay the trial for those answers to be submitted. so the clock is ticking. and his defense team to get the answers in as opening statements are expected as soon as wednesday. >> the middle east peace protest was on the agenda as israel's prime minister met u.s. president barack obama in washington. the nuclear program was discussed. binyamin netanyahu spoke at the annual meeting of the largest pro-israel lobby group. patty culhane has more on that. >> everything about this annual convention is meant to project power. and the pros government lobby known as apec. secretary of state john kerry represented the obama administration was insist ept that u.s. support for his rail is unwavering. every time that is real is

subjected to attacks on legitimacy of the united nations or from any nation. the united states will use every tool we have to defeat the efforts. and we will stand for his rail. >> behind the scenes president obama is sending a tougher message. in an interview ahead of the meeting he warned that time is running out to make a deal with the palestinians saying: >> he warned of increased international isolation. on monday he was subtle when meeting with binyamin netanyahu. >> the time set up for completing the negotiations is

coming near and tough decisions will have to be made. regardless, they'll make their decisions based on israel's commitment to security. >> binyamin netanyahu says he will not be pressured and repeated that. >> the best way to guarantee these is to be strong. that's what the people of israel expect me to do, to stand strong against pressure. to secure the future of the one and only jewish state. >> that is a welcome stand to many who don't believe the u.s. would ever turn away from israel. >> i think this may be a threat, an empty threat. i don't know what is going to happen when there is a new president, and the wind may shift. but it is a process, and it's been long and i think it's going to continue to be hard. >> the obama administration set a self-imposed deadline of the

end of april for progress with the talks as binyamin netanyahu left the white house. it wasn't clear if they were a step closer to what seems a far away goal. >> now, a couple of other stories to tell you about that we are expecting to develop later on tuesday. preserved in volcanic ash after an eruption more than 2,000 years ago. we'll go live to the roman city of pompeii where an emergency city has been called after some ancient structures have collapsed. and dream machines like these. the opening day of the geneva motor show. the s class coupa, the lamb boring eeny, the audi tt, plus... ..this is what we'll fly high over brazil in a little over three months from now. it's 100 days until the football world cup begins. we'll show you some high-tech

security measures being taken. >> the annual iditarod dog race began in alaska. participants cross through a treacherous cows and subzero conditions in a 1600km journey in two weeks. they'll finish south of the arctic circle. >> we follow the race and report from just outside anchorage. >> once a year the city goes to the dogs, sled dogs, hundreds of them. they can hardly wait for the ceremonial starred of the iditarod. the real start is a day later, but this is meant to be fun, sharing the biggest sporting event with the city. they bring the snow in by truck so the sleds can slide and the dogs and mushers can hit the

trail - or in this case, the street. >> i race because i have - i was born with a competitive spirit and i like to see how i can be the best i can be. but it's - i'm racing ultimately with myself. >> and she's been doing it for four decades, a frequent top 10 finisher in the iditarod. didi treats her dogs as family. they race hard, putting up with incredible challenges. >> i have dedicated my life, it's the ultimate relationship between dog and man. it's the opportunity to hone and bring them and that relationship to the table and repeat what god give them the dire to do. >> the race began 40 years ago.

once the state depended on sleds when mushers and dog combined to deliver dip nearia vaccine. now it's the sufest competition in the sport, attracting teams from around the world. >> dog mushing is big in norway, it's great teams are coming from there. it's nice to show the people in alaska that they can keep up. >> keeping the dogs healthy is crucialful before the race they have a medical and an ecg, making sure its heart can endure the 1600km run over snow, ice and this year bare patches of rock. looking at the dogs before a race you can see that the animals love to run. it's what they are born to, what they live for, and what makes them happy. >> the teams are making their way through north america's highest mountains, the alaska range. they'll battle the elements and each other in inhospitable

terrain, pushing themselves, dogs and humans in what is known as the last great race race, the iditarod. >> as calls, lots more on the website aljazeera.com. the latest on all the stories we are following. ♪ >> the escalating political crisis in ukraine threatens to spill beyond boarders, it's effecting oil, gas, bonds, and wheat. and i'll head to america's heartland in a family farm with a big stake in russia. i'