events in crimea and unprecedented decision of russia about the annexation of russia to crimea, it is not a problem of ukraine or countries that border ukraine and russia. >> this concern is shared by the united states and european union and the western community and the action in crimea is a challenge for the whole free world and this challenge makes us stressed today that significance of solid darty. it is the world speaking in a loud voice and nobody can be left alone in the conflict and today and following days we work very hard every day to make sure

that the transalantic the strengthened and the cooperation between the u.s. and eu is strengthened. i am convinced on the soly darety shows strong actions against violating the laws. once again, i want to thank you, mr. vice president for coming here to poland on this special day and for the strongest of the declarations and i had the opportunity to hear about in the conversation for poland and the cooperation with poland by the united states and support today is taking a special csignificane and this trial and channel that

we are facing it is not a challenge for a month or a year, we are not in a strategic perspective and multiannual perspective and the american and polish are in 100% convergent. >> the president and i have great respect for you. (speaking in polish) >> i am here as an ally and you are among the best allies that

america has mr. prime minister. ukraine, it's almost unbelievable set of events that brought us here. the president asked me to come to warsaw today to reaffirm the united states's solemn commitment, solemn nato commitment and consult with the leaders of ukraine. people of ukraine are showing courage and worked hard to show the aspirations, free of corruption and for ukraine connected to institutions and markets of europe and respectful of ukraine's deep culture and economic ties to the neighbors, unfortunately russian leaders responded with a brazen, brazen

military occurrence and tensions inside of yukdz with a rushed and illegal referendum in crimea and rejected by virtually the entire world. and now today with steps to annex crimea. we have joined poland in the community in condemning the continuing assault on ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and violation of the international law mr. putin and russia. russia offered arguments to justify the land grab and including what is said today but the world has seen through russia's actions and rejected the logic, the flawed logic behind those actions. countries like poland have shown

that real progress comes from open societies who are in fact have open markets, not from invasion and aggression. 13 of the 15 countries on the security council of the united nations voted to condemn the referendum in crimea as ill legitimate. even china is not going to support it and russia is standing alone naked in front of the word for the aggression they have undertaken. it is a simple fact that russian's isolation will only increase if it continues down the current path and it is -- and will in fact see additional, addition sanctions by the united

states and the eu. you know, as the prime minister and i discussed in a fairly long meeting we had this morning, as we impose costs on russia for violating international law, we have to be equally support the regime in the -- supporting the government in ukraine right now. the united states is working to provide a billion dollar loan guarantee, technical assistance for free and fair elections and support for reform to provide a stronger stabilization package for ukraine. prime minister and i discussed how the united states and europe can carry forward the support for ukraine and the people in the face of the needs. the prime minister and i

reviewed our mutual commitments as allies and the united states and poland are standing shoulder to shoulder in the missions around the world. but recent events remind us that the bedrock of the alliance remains collective self-defense as in article 5 of the nato treaty. our intent is that nato emerges stronger and more unified than ever. if you want to know that president obama and i view article 5 as a commitment for our time and all times. we take it deadly serious and our commitment is unwaivering and unshakable. that is why the united states is just deployed 12 f-16 fighter

jets to the air base in poland and we have augmented the u.s. rotation nato's program and protecting skies where i will be travelling tomorrow. instead of four f-15's, we have sent today. the commander in europe is convening a meeting with the chiefs of defense of european countries to discuss the current situations which poland will be attending. we are pursue additional steps to strengthen the alliance for the future. nato we encourage the allies to update the planning and threat assessments. working with your polish friends we want to recognize our polish aviation detachments and offer opportunities to work with the combining training and expanding

the training to include the u.s. army. it goes without saying the collective defense is a shared responsibility. and the united states of america strongly supports poland's military modernization. and we look forward to being a pardoner in in that. and we appreciate poland's commitment to carry their share of the financial burden as all allies should do. for our part united states plans for european phased adaptive approach to the missile defense that we announced five years ago and the plans are on schedule and we have met the targets and we are bringing that to fruition. that is the commitment. a missile defense site in poland by 2018. we spoke about energy. and in the coming weeks, we are

meeting with the european partners to discuss ways to further diversify the supplies of energy and helping to improve the energy security and ensuring that no nation can use the supply of gas as a weapon against another country and today we spoke about the steps to reverse the natural gas flows to help the ukrainians to get the supplies that are needed. we talked about the negotiations toward the transalantic traited and investment partnership between the united states and europe. this is all ready the largest commercial relationship in the world. but we have an additional chance to significantly expand together creating jobs on both sides of the atlantic. so mr. prime minister we are

grateful to you and the people of poland for the support and it is said joshua brought down the walls of engineer co-and it was poland that unleashed the forces to brought down the berlin wall and you have set a standard for what a country can achieve when it has the courage to reach for freedom and we look forward to working closely together in the days ahead, mr. prime minister. may god bless poland and protect the troops. thank you for all you have done. >> you have been listening to vice president joe biden addressed the prime minister of poland and they are in warsaw, poland this morning and saying that the russian challenge in crimea is a concern for the whole world and that being the

prime minister of poland and vice president biden saying it is a brazen military incursion of what russia did and it is a land grab and pointing out the fact that the u.n. is saying that russia is standing alone naked in front of the world. i'm joined once again in the studio my amy knight and the vice president is trying to assure the allies that the united states is going the act and do you anticipate anything beyond the sanctions at this point in time? >> well, nothing beyond possibly military support with resources and so forth to ukraine but any military action, no. sanctions will be the main

feature of western response. >> why not? you hear a lot of people, the people on capitol hill saying we have to go further and why not military action? >> it is interesting because there is a justification for military action because of the budapest agreement we signed with ukraine and the uk when ukraine give up the nuclear weapons and of course, you can imagine now if ukraine had nuclear weapons the situation would be different russia wouldn't be playing so fast and lose with ukraine. so the west would have a justification. but realistically ukraine is not worth beginning what could be a major conflict in that area. >> amy, thank you so much.

you have been listening to the developments throughout the day and are similar speeches taking place across europe considering the other leaders in europe? >> well, del, we are initially getting some of the reaction. you have heard from vice president biden and saying they have invoking more sanctions. that is clear. he's called it a land grabby putin and reassuring poland and reassuring lith wane ya and the baltics and that the united states is standing by them and nato is strong and a lot of discussion about okay if we move to more sanctions and the situation is in a deep spiral at this point and appearing to a lot of people in europe, then what happens to the fact that russia is supplying so much energy to the rest of europe and so poland is really pushing for as well as as tonians and the

other countries not only in the short term looking after ukraine and getting them the energy and poland is exposed and asked the u.s. the help out and withdrawing is rethinking. the foreign secretary of britain spoke in the house of commons and used similar language as biden and putin is denying the citizens partnership with the international community and here the quote, no amount of sham and perverse democratic process or skewed his toric references can make this state and a land grab of the territory with no respect for international law. del? >> i'm curious to how this is playing out in europe, it is

their backyard, it is the other side of the pond, so the speak, but how is this playing out in europe the aggression by russia? >> they are scared. they are shuttering. the baltic nations and poland that lived under the shadow of russia and communism so long is viewing this in historical terms. we are seeing it in a modern frame work of what is happening in crimea, but they continue to look back at their history and thinking that putin has expansionist plans and putin wants to dominate the near and afar and grab the near and afar and they quantity to see military support and seeing the west, and especially the u.s. have a heavy hand on russia and feeling that putin needs to be

pushed back and in a big way and stronger sanctions and there is a push for that at the leader's conference coming up in a couple of days now. >> amy, does he have a point when speaking about the european public and seeing a tougher united states, a tougher european union or is that wishful thinking with the regards that the economic structure of europe and russia co-joined? >> well, depending on the energy in russia is a problem. well, the baltic states and poland have probably much greater cause for anxiety over mr. putin's aggressive moves because they were, the baltic states were part of the soviet union and poland was occupied by

the soviets. so their views are a little different than germany, for example. >> to that point, is it not a problem that every time when you hear putin speak you always hear the former kgb colonel, the former member of the old soviet regime and it is hard to differentiate him from the past russian history? >> putin famously said one of the greatest regrets was the disillusion of the soviet union. he takes a very patriotic view of russia. i don't know if you can attribute putin's dislike of the

west and his nationalistic tendencies for the fact he worked in the kbg. they particularly intelligence officers had a sophisticated view towards the west and so i think it is more just putin's nature. >> i understand there is a development coming in from london concerning the military cooperation with russia? >> essentially they are saying all along they are going to suspend. well i have not seen that statement yet, but i know he spoke in the house of commons and they are going to suspend military cooperation with russia, that is what you are referring to? >> yes, the military aid and the cooperation is going to be suspended. you indicated that the european union is seeing this differently

than the united states because of history? >> i think because of the fact that geographically they are so close to russia and of course, they are tied to russia's energy supplies and they are feeling they have been blackmailed by russia in terms of the energy. and with ukraine, turn it back to the orange revolution and exactly the same set of circumstances where viktor yanukovich was supported by president putin and tried to get him in and voter fraud inside of the ukraine and in the end there was a revolution of sorts in kiev, a nonviolent one at that time and in the end they had to hold a new election and at that moment russia cut the oil and gas in the middle of winter to

ukraine and all of europe started debate again this depen especially on the russian energy. so here we are again vice president biden in poland talking to the baltics this amp and tomorrow an at of focus on this collar around the necks, the leash on europe tied to the energy supplies from russia and russia threatening to cut it off. they have to come up with options and the sanctions against russia. >> stand by, when we come back, we are dealing with the issue of how did we get here? we are going to take a break. we'll be right back and we'll talk about that.

>> we are back covering the crisis in ukraine and the russian president addressing the annexation of crimea and saying they wished to succeed from ukraine and become part of russia. we were talking before the break about how we got here and i'm with aimny in the studio and amy, we talked about the fact of going back to november, which caused the residents of kiev to go to streets and other cities as well, and there was a decisioning made to go with the deal with russia versus with the european union and a lot of people in kiev believed it was a corrupt deal and the old russian empire seizing control and

coming up with a corrupt way of doing things and they were tired of that and took to the streets and demanded a new government and the oust of the president viktor yanukovich, and is that y this all started? >> absolutely. well, going back to the orange revolution to 1991. the issues are pretty much the same how much ukrainians are willing to accept russian influence and how badly they want to align themselves economically and with western europe. so this is a struggle that has been going on. actually, russia pressured viktor yanukovich into moving away from the eu deal. they are able to exert a lot of pressures in a number of ways. the threat of the energy cutoff,

and all the trade that goes between ukraine and russia. >> in fact, i want to show the audience a graph that we have prepared for that. this shows the wait way that is situation is unfolding. the russian empire and the russian trade and $844 billion, half involves the amount of oil that russia exports. now to breaking that down with the european union, if you look at the european union you are seeing the uk, france, italy, germany, all defend, especially germany on russia as a trading partner. then we factor in china, we see that in the bottom half of the graph and that is showing how much money china exports and inports regarding russia. look at ukraine $39 billion and factor in the exports from russian oil to the united

states, and japan, ukraine is responsible for more of the russian economy than the united states and japan are singularly and the united states receiving $27 billion in russian oil exports. dana is in london and clearly the european union is tied to russia but wants to sever the ties. >> they want to sever the ties if it is a chain around their neck. if russia is going to continue to try and bully the near and afar and threaten europe with foreign policy by cutting the gas and threatening to do so a. well, enough is enough. we have to have as a europe the independence to be able to stand up for what we believe in and including territorial integrity of ukraine without being

blackmailed and it is time once again to put it on the table and getting around the gas exports to ukraine and to all of europe and 30% to europe and break away from russia and russia will be isolated at the end of it that if it is not going to respond to the sanctions, which will be getting stronger as the european leaders are meeting in europe once again and discussing putin's statements today. we have heard a strong one from the british foreign secretary and saying that putin is choosing the route of isolation and denying their own citizens partners with the international community and no sham or references can mask what hague called a land grab and what vice president biden in talking today also just characterized as a

very serious land grab. you asked me earlier if britain is cutting the military cooperation with russia, we know also know that the russians are threatening to cut the military support and are you mored to do it and nuclear war heads between the united states and russia and the saying coined by reagan trust but verify and suddenly the whole verification process going into the ditch, which is a key in stopping the russians from deploying more war heads than under the existing treaty. that is a serious military chapter in these relationships, del. >> dana, stand by, we want to play for you a portion of the speech by vice president biden in warsaw, poland, in which he

used the strongest language to date and calling it a land grab. >> russia offered a variety of arguments to justify what is nothing more than a land grab, including what was said today. but the world has seen through russia's action and rejected the logic, the flawed logic behind those actions. >> amy, you are a student of history, you are a historian and there is a saying failed to heed the history's warns deems us to make mistakes, what mistakes will we make if we don't do something different? >> well, i think we have to be very, very firm in drawing a line with russia. and following up on any kind of threats that we make. for example, president obama said there would be further sanctions if russia did not get out of crimea. doesn't look like russia is

living crimea any time soon and so i would expect it's very important that the u.s. broaden the list of people. >> so the first sanctions were meaningless? >> well, disappointed they didn't really include the officials that would have been a key part of the decision making in the crimea situation. >> okay. we are going to take a break here shortly and want to remind the audiences why this is to important. it is involving the people of ukraine and kiev and decided they wanted to be independent and a new election there and involving the people of crimea and speaking russian and the tartars. it is involving a situation in russia, and europeans that get a lot of oil, a lot of energy from

russia, natural gas as well. it is involving the u.s. and syria, iran, and the rest of the world. i'm del walter is new york and we are following the developments concerning the situation in crimea and russia and united nations and the secretary of state and prime minister and as we watch russia and wondering what is going to happen, and what is russia going to do next and what is putin doi doing next and what is going to happen at the capitol.

>> welcome back. a look at the headlines, russian president sign add treaty and claiming the peninsula. putin said that moscow is not intending to divide ukraine any further. >> ukraine's government rejected the new pact between crimea and russia and the foreign minister is saying that putin's address stresses the threat to national security and u.s. vice president biden condemned what is called russia's land grab of ukraine and nato needs to stay unified more than ever. >> we are remined that the bedrock of the alliance remains self-defense. as inshined in article 5 of the nato treaty. our intent that is nato emerge

stronger and more unified than ever. >> we are joined live from washington, d.c. and roz we have heard joe biden and reassuring the allies that we stand with the allies against russia and the president obama expected to take a tougher stand against moscow? >> well, if you are asking whether the president is contemplating actually making good on article 5 of the nato convention, i wouldn't make that assumption. the u.s. is aware that the people of the country don't have a taste for military intervention after 12 years of war in afghanistan and iraq. there is the question of trying to make certain that the u.s. preserves the relationship with russia on other key issues,

north korea and middle east peace. as we heard the vice president say just a few moments ago there are going to be rep percussions. >> well, some have happened, the sanctions imposed against the russian individuals, but the question is though is congress behind the obama administration with the action against russia? >> there are some members of congress saying that the administration is taging the right approach and trying to calibrate the economic sanctions as well break away from the military interventions that the two countries have had, military exercises for example, the halting for now of planning for the g-8 summit that is supposed

to take place in sochi in late june and some members are perhaps wanting to a robust military presence in the region. is an aircraft carrier in the region. and the bush and three other vessels throughing two destroyers but that said, that is not enough that some analysts suggest would be appropriate for any kind of intervention from a military stand point. what the u.s. most likely will do is try to find more ways of increasing the economic pressure on russia because russia definitely has relationships with countries in the eu, in middle east and asia where the money coming in essential to keeping the russian economy afloat.

the u.s. already noted that this crisis is hurting the russian economy and that's the likeliest avenue it is going to pursue in the coming weeks. thank you, roz. >> moving on, iranian negotiates are meeting in a new round of talks about the nuclear program. the talks are part of a deal struck between the two sides in november and it is hoping that this series of meetings will open the door to a lasting accord. >> iran's iraq heavy water reactor under construction and a hurdle to overcome. it is a focus on the discussions. as one observer noted the fact that such little information is now emerging implies that

at long last they are talking seriously at making some sort of progress. but no one is optimistic about a quick resolution. disspite an agreement reached last year when iran shelfed the high uranium enrichment for relief of the sanctions. this week iran told the negotiates they should not accept any bans on the complex and the fact of enrichment. the iranian foreign minister didn't expect to come to an agreement throughout the round of talks and many analysts remain cautious. >> the odds are against the break through. 60% against and 40% for. i think this will be very important round. i think both sides are testing the waters. both sides are repositioning and trying to maximize their

interest. there is a great divide. >> iran long denied accusations from israel and the western powers that it t tried to develop the nuclear weapons. >> one of the most wanted men in the ballcans have been captured. he's charged of leading a criminal organization and smuggling cocaine from south america to europe and for more on the story i am joined from belgrade and thank you for being with us now. just explain to us who is this person and how power was he? >> until 2009, when a joint operation between american drug enforcement agency and

dia not many knew he was one. 2100 kilograms of cocaine seized on the borders only then the public here in serbia learned about him and his criminal organization. many, many details emerged after those seizures of cocaine that several tons of cocaine went to this area before and interesting enough, serbia is 7.3 million and half a million people inmontrego and he actually was the

european drug lord because he was selling all that cocaine and distributing cocaine from serbia and others and particularly to west and europe and created criminal empire not by guns but giving the lowest possible prices for cocaine in the european market and that is how he was so successful, not just in the region but the entire europe. >> it is sounding like a significant arrest but his capture comes just two days after the general election in serbia, is there a coinincidents to this? >> that is an interesting question. and the local media is mentioning that fact, just two days of the general elections that he was as you said

capture. nobody is mentioning in the first several hours that he was not captured he actually surrendered himself some where in south america. it is very interesting. according to the lawyer, he contacted serbian authorities on february 25th offering surrender. aparentally that deal was brokered and now gave himself up and transferred some where from south america tomontenegro and picked up and flown to belgrade to be arrested around 9:45 this morning. and one more detail he's being held in a special court building that is right behind

me in that building wartime criminals spent few days before extradited. he's in the same prison cell as those guys we don't know but in the same building. >> thank you so much for reporting to us from belgrade. >> there is a police officer charged for the death of 37 inmates and the men suffocated from tear gas in the back of a police vehicle being transported to a prison in cairo. the security forces initially said that the men died during an escape attempt and retracted the claim. one officer giving ten years of hard labor for manslaughter. >> egyptian security forces prevented the supporters of the former president for holding a news conference in

cairo and expected to discuss the deaths of the brotherhood members last year. >> three al jazeera journalists now held for 180 days and accused of having links with a terrorist organization and al jazeera is rejecting the charges against the staff and continuing to demand their release. the next court appearance is on march 24th. one of the brothers returned to australia. he says - hard to believe knowing his broter is still in jail. >> each time i visit i am astounded by the strength. it is extremely tough conditions there. but i guess he's preparing himself mentally to get through it. he's in a mental state of not

knowing when it is going to end. he said he's not out until they are out. they are not getting their hopes up. >> the cairo court extended the detention for another 45 days and already held over six months. >> sudan is cracking down on the media. the secured copies of the media. >> there are more 50 daily newspapers in sudan and what is sold on the street is is decided by the government. the government stepped up the censorship in recent months. one day last week it seized

ten thousand copies of the newspaper and arabic daily. >> security officials came to take all copies of the newspaper. the following day they asked us to come and collect the papers from their offices. >> it is a practice condemning the newspaper industry to financial agony. the confiscation of the newspapers is showing how the government is becoming in the censorship and preventing them from the media. last week the national security services suspended a journ journalist. >> all my articles are factual and you will see i didn't cross the red lines. >> including not reporting on anything touching on the

president, his deputy and the government officials. >> this law is serious and needs to be followed. >> workers throw away the confiscated newspapers. the floors are overflowing with the newspapers. for now they are caught up in a system where their livelihoods are threatened every day. >> declaring the new president elect and winning by 0.01%.

he's taking office on june 1st. >> troops in venezuela are patrolling the square that they have seized from the protestor on monday. the opponents have been fighting for a month there. 29 people have died. we have a report from the capital. >> the streets and the plazas are dressed in olive green and taken over by venezuela's national guard. this is the culmination of two days of running the battles between the protestor and the security voices and after the president announced he's going to implement a new plan to liberate the area. >> what you see here are police and national guardsmen under the new orders and that is going on the offensive and preventing the protestor from

building the barricades and roadblocks. on monday the authorities cleared the areas. they displayed what was confiscated from the protestor. >> we are bringing maintenance equipment to restore the traffic conditions. public transportation is now again working. >> as clean up teams swept up the remnants of the burned tires and the barricades, some residents welcomed the return of calm. >> the problem is not protesting, which the constitution allows but the people are demonstrating violently. >> but students say that the national guard checked her bag for weapons is angry. >> i understand that there are few burned that tires, but we need a dialogue and now i feel intimidated and frightened to

protest. >> the opposition leaders are calling for a change and outraged by the government's show of force. >> it is proving the nature of the regime in which oppression is turned into a policy by the state. >> but there are differences within the opposition. and these residents are holding up signs to respect the demonstrators for a fleeting moment they are open to reconciliation. >> efforts are underway to preserve the work and the belongings of earnest hemingway. the house untouched since dying in 1961. cuba and the united states are working together to preserve and put out the letters and

photographs. >> still to come on al jazeera, brooklyn dazzled somes with the skills and we have the latest from the nba, all that is coming up in sports after the break.

>> sports now and here the jo. >> thank you so much. it is a homecoming of sorts as champions league on tuesday no room for the sentiments in the second round of the 16 match.

>> spent 8 seasons with chelsea and scoring 157 goals and now in the opposition dressing room. >> can i ask myself a question, how do you feel about coming back? i need to be professional. of course, there will be emotions, of course. >> and he's one of the most important players of the history of this club. >> he averted the final and one day the hopes he'll return. >> it has to happen one day. when i don't know. as of player and coach, as ambassador next year in four or five years, ten years, i

don't know. >> emotions are put to one side, however, with this tied level at 1-1. >> it is difficult, it is one of the best team in europe and never say never. you have to believe in yourself. >> hoping to progress to the final eight, 6-1 advantage into the second leg. the spanish leaders are without a player that suffered a leg injury. and one eye on sunday's game against barcelona. >> the team is fine. we can play a good match. we have to for a number of reasons. this is a champion's league match and very important and this is the best way to prepare for the game next sunday is.

>> the fans are singing and no doubting the challenge awaiting that currently third in the german league. >> officials in charge of the 2022 world cup begin and allegations for corruption for winning the bid. both men's careered ended when caught up in a corruption. organizers of the world cup stressed that ben was never officially involved in the bidding for the tournament. they are saying that the bids are complying with the code of ethics and organizers are unaware of any allegations surrounding the business between private individuals.

there's more on that story at al jazeera.com/sports. afghanistan in hong kong at the cricket games. they won the toss and putting nepal out. australia without mitchell johnson for the first game on sunday. the captain george bailey is confident they are potent enough to remain the title. >> i think we are lucky to have that backup as well. he's got a good touch and good form and pedigree and good pace and swinging the ball. >> and nba in oklahoma city thunder beating the bulls. over in brooklyn the nets

downed the suns. point guard williams in hot form and 28 points and 4 assists. johnson scoring 19. now they have won 8 of the last 10 games. bruins extended the winning streak to 9 games with a victory of minnesota wilds. smith with a single goal. that's it for the sports for now. >> thank you so much. stay with us here on al jazeera, we have a full bulletin of news.