>> everest is 29,000 feet high. the peak is more than 10,000 higher than the base camp, and hello i'm del walters in new york. we are watching washington at this hour. we are awaiting a news conference between president obama and german chancellor angela merkel who arrived in town today. the two have been meeting for about four hours. among the topics said to be on the table, the nsa and also the german response to the crisis in ukraine. our libby casey is there right now. libby set the stage for us. are expectations for this meeting between these two leaders high? >> well, del, i wouldn't say they are high, but it is a pivotal moment and an essential time when these two leaders want

to show unity. they have different agendas, but when they come out here, expect to see them try to speak with one voice. ♪ >> reporter: president obama and chancellor merkel will meet for four hours at the white house. >> merkel and obama will say publicly will be we have to go together and when it comes to ukraine we have to work together to put more pressure on putin. but the interests are different. >> reporter: the latest round of sanctions by the u.s. and european union stopped short of hitting russia's oil and gas industry. trade between the two countries amounted to $100 billion last year. >> we work very closely with russia. we are to some extent even dependant on russia gas, so for that reason we are hesitant to

put more pressure on russia. >> reporter: foreign policy analyst mark fisher says the white house sees merkel as a possible bridge. >> she is the link of communication with putin right now. in that respect, being here in washington the day after she just talked to putin, it's very important for symbolic and political reasons. we're not so hot blooded so chancellor merkel is someone on the german scene and europe yoon political scene who likes to lead by consensus. >> reporter: that cool demeanor may keep the german chancellor from hitting president obama with a scathing public critique of the nsa monitoring her private calls. >> she will say very clearly

that she is disappointed, but she will do that behind closed doors. she will talk very openly, i think to president obama about this issue, but she will not talk about that issue on the press conference or if she is going to do that, she is going to be very polite. >> reporter: both politically and personally, merkel's visit is a chance for president obama to re-kindl the friendship with american of america's strongest allies. this relationship is very important both to the german people as well as president obama. so expect to see them try to speak with that unified voice, but there are fissures under the surface. there is not a huge expectation on solutions reached, it's more about having the time to sit down and strategize.

>> explain why the curiosity in germany concerning the nsa revelations is likely to be high? we have moved on now, thinking most of the questions will focus on the ukraine. but that is not the case in germany. >> that's right. there is similaring outrage over what emerged from the nsa concerning the eavesdropping on the chancellor's phone as she had private conversations. it really shook the relationship between president obama and chancellor merkel, and also on the u.s.'s ability to be a friendly nation. so the germans have not moved past this. they are still looking for answers. the german government asked that the nsa turn over the german nsa files and the obama

administration so far as refused to do that. >> we should point out that there are also dueling sensitivities on both sides of the pond and there is a reason that angela merkel is so upset. >> absolutely. you can certainly imagine the level of outrage, i think all of the nations know that all nations spy, but when you are talking about personal phone calls that's a different matter. so you may expect a politeness, even a friendship, but you can expect the conversations were much more heated behind closed doors. >> libby casey stand by, we are still awaiting word from the white house. meanwhile we want to update you on some breaking new out of afghanistan. 2,000 people now feared dead from a landslide. the slide reportedly buried an

engage vil naij a province in the northeast. some 250 families were living in the province. as we development more information we will bring it to you, but once again, 2,000 people feared dead from a landslide in afghanistan. we want to bring you background now on the situation in ukraine why the leaders will be talking about it at the white house. two helicopters shot down this morning by pro-russian separatists using ground to aramis -- missiles. kiev was trying to retake the city of slaviansk and now two people are dead and tensions are once again on edge. jonah hull has the latest. >> reporter: video posted on the internet purports to show what the residents of slaviansk and the pro-russian separatists

vehicle to at dawn. the ukrainian army launched what it described as a large scale -- >> we are going to break away from that story. this is german chancellor angela merkel and president obama live from the white house. >> good morning, everybody. it is always a great pleasure to welcome my friend chancellor merkel to the house. germany is one of our strongest allies and angela merkel is one of my closest partners. first as president, my top priority is doing everything we can to create more jobs and opportunity for hard-working families for our economic strength as a source of strength in the world. this morning we learned that our businesses creates 273,000 new jobs last month, all told our businesses have now created

9.2 million new jobs over 50 consecutive months of job growth. the grit and determination of the american people are moving us forward, but we have to keep a focus on job creation and creating more opportunities for working families. there's plenty more that congress should be doing from raising the minimum wage to creating good construction jobs to rebuild america. i want to work with them where every i can, and keep acting on my own wherever i must to make sure every american has a chance to move ahead. second point i want to say on behalf of the american people our thoughts are with the people of afghanistan who have experienced an awful tragedy. we are seeing reports of a devastating landslide as a result of floods.

just as the united states has stood with the people of afghanistan through a difficult decade, we standing ready to help our afghan partners as they respond to this disaster, for -- even as our war there comes to an end this year, our commitment to afghanistan and its people will endure. now angela, i'm still grateful for the hospitality that you and the german people extended to me, michelle, and our daughters last year in berlin. you promised me a warm welcome and delivered an unbelievable 90 degrees day in berlin. this morning our work touched on a range of issues where the united states and germany are vital partners. we agreed to continue the close security operation, including law enforcement cyber intelligence. we reaffirmed our strong

commitment to completing the trade pact. we discussed energy security, including the importance of europe diversifying its energy sources. the united states has already approved licenses for natural gas exports which be benefit countries in europe. at our working lunch we'll review our negotiations with iran. we'll discuss syria, where we continue to support the moderate opposition, and provide humanitarian relief to the syrian people. i look forward to briefing angela on my trip to asia, where both of our nations can ensure that all countriesed a higher to international norms.

of course most of our time was spent on the situation in ukraine. i want to thank you for being such a strong partner on this issue. you have spoken out forcefully russia's illegal action ukraine. and your presence here today is a reminder that our nations stand united. we are united in our determination to impose costs on russia for its actions, including through coordinated sanctions. we're united on our unwavering article 5 commitment to the security of our nato allies including german aircraft joining pat roles over the baltics. we're united in our support to ukraine. and as ukrainian forces move to restore order in eastern ukraine, it is obvious to the world that these are not peaceful protesters. they are heavily armed militants

who are receiving significant support from russia. the ukrainian government has the right and responsibility to uphold law over the territory. let me say that we're also united in our outrage over the appalling treatment of the observers who have been detained in eastern ukraine. pro-russian mill tanths are still olding observers, including four germans as well as their escorts. they have been forced to make statements at the barrel of a gun. it's inexcusable. russia needs to work to secure their immediate release and the international community is not going to be satisfied until they come home. finally, as both angela and i have repeatedly said, we want to see a diplomatic solution to the

situation in ukraine. but we have also been clear that if the russian leadership does not change coarse it will face increasing costs. the rubble has fallen to near all time lows, russian stocks have dropped sharply, and russia has slipped into recession. it is estimated that $100 billion in investments will exit russia this year. and russia's credit rating has been downgraded to just above junk status. in short the actions in ukraine are making an already weak economy even weaker. we have been consulting closely with our european and g-7 partners, and we're stepping up our planning. angela and i continue these consultations today. russian leadership must know if

it continues to destabilize eastern ukraine and disrupt this month's presidential election, we will move quickly on additional steps including further sanctions, but that is a choice facing the russian leadership. our preference is a diplomatic resolution to this issue. and the ukrainian government has already shown itself more than willing to work through some of the issues that would ensure the rights of all ukrainians are respected; that you have a representative government. they have gone through with their commitment to potentially provide amnesty to those who lay down arms, and who are willing to abandon the buildings they have occupied. we need russians to follow through on their agreements as

well. so angela thank you for being here, and as always for your friendship and partnership, the actions of russian have brought us together to discussion europe that is whole and at peace. chancellor merkel. >> thank you very much, bar rack for the gracious hospitality and this [ inaudible ] and i'm very glad to be able to be back in washington and an opportunity to address these issues, i think priority leading is on the current issue of ukraine, and the national agenda [ inaudible ] important the trans-atlantic parter inship is

[ inaudible ] what happened on ukraine, what happened on [ inaudible ] well the [ inaudible ] people in ukraine can act on the basis of self determination [ inaudible ] wish to embark on [ inaudible ] a very crucial date to ensure that, and we will see that elections take place. [ inaudible ] we talked about it, and [ inaudible ] everything we can in order to [ inaudible ] to do the necessary steps

[ inaudible ] stabilizing ukraine. the 25th of may is not all that far away [ inaudible ] unavoidable. this issing is that we don't want [ inaudible ]. >> it is not the fault of your television set if you are wondering why the translation level and the audio level in english are sort of the same. we are recognizing that that is a problem and working feverously behind the scenes to fix the problem. in the meantime we ask you to

politely bear with us. >> translator: yet there republican a difference of opinions on [ inaudible ] should be [ inaudible ] on the other hand, protecting [ inaudible ] speaking in the overall context

by [ inaudible ] but also in the content of high expectation of engive supply this is a very important issue. it will be very important for us to think that the negotiations [ inaudible ] to germany and to the united states. this offers a lot of opportunity gnaw for us to bring this agreement to a conclusion [ inaudible ]. [ technical difficulties ]

thank you very much for giving me this opportunity, and also thank you for your gracious hospitality. >> i think we're going to take two questions from the u.s. press and two questions from the german. we'll start with lessly clark. >> reporter: thank you mr. president. with violence today in ukraine, you said today that germany and the united states are united in the efforts to de-escalate, but have you been able to reach common ground on the engive seccer for. and to chancellor merkel, you said that president putin may

not be dealing on a level of reality. and is he a threat to europe? >> every day we are watching the events with deep concern, and i think that what you have seen over the course of the last several months in the midst of this crisis is remarkable unity between the united states and the european union in response. we have at the same time offered a diplomatic approach that could resolve this issue, supporting the ukrainian government in kiev both economically, diplomatically and politically, and we have said that we would apply costs and consequences to the russians if they continued with their actions, and that's exactly what we have done. and you saw just over the course of the last week, additional

sanctions applied both by the europeans and the us. the next step is going to be a broader-based sectoral sanctions regime and what we have said is that we want to continue to keep open the possibility of resolving the issue diplomatically, but as angela merkel said, if in fact we see the disruptions and the destabilization continuing so severely that it impedes elections on may 25th, we will not have a choice but to move forward with additional, more severe sanctions. and the consultations have been taking place over the course of the last several weeks about what exactly those would look like and would apply to a range of sectors. the goal is not to punish russia.

the goal is to give them an inseptember sent -- sin enttive to choose the better course. to solve these issues diplomatically. within europe and the eu, i'm sure there has to be extensive consultations. you have 28 countries, and some are more vulnerable than others to russian reaction. but what has been remarkable is the degree to which all countries agree that russia has violated the integrity and sovereignty of a country. we anticipate that if we have to use more sanctions, we can. and i thank chancellor merkel's

leadership on this front. she has been extraordinarily helpful, not only in facilitating european unity, but she has also been very important in helping to shape a possible diplomatic resolution, and reaching out to the russians to encourage them to take that door while it's still open. [ no audio ] that when it comes to sanctions we're looking at a whole range of issues. energy flows, those continue even at the height of the cold war. so the idea that you are going to turn off the tap on all russian oil or natural gas exports i think is unrealistic,

but there are a range of, you know, approaches that can be taken, not only in the energy sector, but in the arms sector, the finance sector, in terms of lines of credit for trade, all that have a significant impact on russia. i don't think it's appropriate for us to delve into the details at this stage, because our hope is that we don't have to deploy them, but what i can say is our experts at the highest level not just bilaterally, but multi-laterally, and our diplomatic teams have been working through all of the possibilities and we're confident that we will have a package that will further impact russia's growth and economy but again our hope is that we don't have to use them. we're not interested in punishing the russian people.

we do think mr. putin and his leadership circle are making bad decisions and unnecessary decisions, and he needs to be dissuaded from his current course. >> translator: it is, i think, obvious to all that there are very different assessments on what happens in ukraine. on the one hand that you have the united states and europe. we have always taken our decisions together, and on the other hand the russian appreciation and appraisal of the situation. i hope that russia will live up better in the future to its responsibilities. but we need to see deeds matching out their words. we have no release of the ho hosta hostages. this is a very crucial step that needs to happen first. we have not seen any

implementation of the geneva agreement on the russian side, and the ocse is an organization to which we would like to afford a greater role so they can prepare and pave the way for elections. and the sanctions i agree combined with the offer that we want diplomatic solutions, it is a very necessary second component to show that we're serious -- we're serious about our principles, and there is a brood range of possibilities that are being prepared for in the european union. we will move to a third stage of sanctions. i would like to underline this is not necessarily what we want, but we are ready and prepared to take such a step.

my main aim would be to improve the situation there and see that elections take place. we are also prepared to take further steps however. what we're talking about here will be sectoral measures in the context of certain branches of industry. the american president and i can only agree with this has said what is necessary on the dependance on gas, but we can also look ahead in the median term in order to promote an energy union in europe. there are six countries right now that depend 100% on gas sup place. we need to improve the reverse flow as we call it, improve our grid pipelines, all of the countries need to share supplies, and those are measures that we're currently discussing in europe.

we're talking short-term but also medium and long-term measures. madam chancellor you said that time is of the essence and it is getting shorter. when would be the time when you would say moving to a third phase of sanctions is what you would promote? and is more energy intensive initiative by the eu necessary? can you understand the fact that also mr. putin needs to play a role in the solution which is the position of the european union. that also his arguments have to be weighed and after the chancellor having made several phone calls with mr. putin, do you think there stands a chance to sort of work on this? well, as for the question what about the next few days to come?

i think the meeting of foreign ministers is going to play a very important role. one can sound out what possibilities there are. we from the german side as we having a agreed with our american friends will do everything we can in order to bring the oscd into a situation supported politically, that is to do what is necessary in order to bring matters forward in the uk. you have the monitors for the elections but also questions as regards a change of the constitution, reform towards further decentralization, all of the different parts of the country have to be at the same level, and the oscd wants to do that. when a certain point in time is there, it's very difficult to predict. i can only say for me the elections o