so you know. >> there go. i appreciate it. there it is. al jazeera america. i. >> just wait until there is a new election. there will be new chosen leaders. it's a month since the voters

>> with the war of words escalating along with the actual fighting on the ground russian diplomats join foreign ministers from germany, france and ukraine on wednesday in berlin seeking to end the crisis. they accuse moscow of beginning and fomenting their trouble. german chancellor angela merkel spoke. >> we will not stop seeking diplomatic solutions to the conflict. we are still far from where we would like to be. >> reporter: it's unclear where the daylight is now. ukraine's new president has realigned the country's economic interests with europe, the very move that sparked the political crisis in stand off with russia in the first place late last

year. what might president putin do. can sanctions bring russia and ukraine together before this evolves into further all out open war? >> one of kiev's main squares. the ousting of viktor yanukovych and the troops in crimea taking back the black sea peninsula from ukraine. here to talk about where the situation is now, from london, russian political analysts and former adviser to former president yeltsin. and from kiev, michael, spokesperson in ukraine of the

organization for security and cooperation i. you have a network of observers this the country. what are you hearing from the rest of ukraine? >> good to be back with you ray. well, as you may know we just finished over the weekend receiving eight of our colleagues who were held captive for an entire month in an unstable part of eastern ukraine. this was something that was really hard hit on the mission. it also shows that we're facing right now in those parts. monsters have had a tough time going around in their daily patrols. what we've had to do is reconfigure and get people out of harm's way.

really, security safety of all our colleagues is the number one priority. and unless one can get those insurances, it will be very difficult to be part of some kind of agreement where we monitor the borders, for example. >> well, i know that you are certainly trying to be neutral, in your work for the country, but are you regarded for having taken a side by some of the people who are running these cities in the east? >> i don't think so. we've done a lot of work to inform people who we are, what our mandate is to report unflinchingly what we're seeing on the ground, and to facilitate dialogue. what we've heard, including from those who were held captive, they might have been kept as human shields and for other

reasons but for the most part people are happy they are there. we have been reporting on a detearating humanitarian situation especially in the hot spot of slovyansk where half the population has left the city. there is very little electricity, water and sanitation, and also we're talking about tens of thousands of people streaming out of eastern ukraine as internally displaced people both a smaller portion to russia and other portions to ukraine. all of this makes for a very complex situation. >> if you look at a map of the entire eastern part of the country are there sections where a part of kiev simply does not run. where petro poroshenko is simply not in charge? >> well, there are large

sections that are no-go areas as far as we're concerned. up until recently we had fairly large teams in luhansk and donetsk, you referred to both of those places in your set-up piece. we've had to locate people. i must make it firm we do want to stay in eastern ukraine, but in order for that to happen we need weapons to di disappear, checks points by armed individuals, some of whom might be part of larger groups that might be part of an agreement. there are areas that is very difficult for our monitors to feel safe. we need safety and security to monitor properly. >> alessandro, let me turn to you. there have been complaints during that long speech between november and may that there was no legitimate government in kiev

with which the moscow government could speak. is there recognition now that petro poroshenko is in charge, and he's the man to talk to if you want to make a deal between the two countries. >> obviously, since poroshenko was elected president putin made it clear that moscow was prepared to talk to him. there was signs initially that he might be flexible, and he might be prepared to talk with government in the east. but unfortunately it all ended in this so-called anti-terrorist campaign getting wider, spreading all over in those regions mentioned already, and even further than that. unfortunately when the so-called

cease-fire agreement was announced, it was more of an ultimatum because the government in kiev, the president, they really didn't want to start talking to the people in the east. they just said to them that they have to give up their arms and it would be provided for them to leave. now, this basically didn't create any conditions for any serious discussions. then of course the hypocrisy of this situation was that petro poroshenko needed to go to bruceel it' brussels to sign the agreement with the european union. so this cease-fire agreement was just a temporary measure to show that he was a peacemaker, he was going to go to europe and sign this agreement. by the way, this agreement will hurt ukraine economy very much.

this is another question. basically this was just a maneuver, and no one was expecting this cease-fire agreement will last, and that's exactly what has happened. the important thing to remember the biggest crisis of them all is the humanitarian crisis. we are witnessing terrible suffering of the civilians, their children are dying. women and old people are dying. i think that is the major problem that has to be resolved at once. nobody should be discussing ideologies or who started what. this has to be resolved. if this is not resolved there is no point in even talking with the president and the ukrainian government. >> let me turn to ambassador hunter at this point. do you agree with that this has to be solved, and are we any closer to solving it than we were before the election at the end of may? >> well, i agree it has to be solved.

the one person who can really lead this away from the brink is vladimir putin. he instigated this not with what is going on, but in order to try to get his own back for feeling the russian people feeling some how they were humiliated by the end of the cold war. well, putin has made his point. if, indeed, he is serious and not up critical he can move in the direction of getting the people in eastern ukraine to start backing down. theoretically he may not have that much control. practically he does. until he's prepared to do that there is really not a lot to talk about. >> i'm interested in the idea that he might not have that much control. are you saying that he might have unleashed forces that now

are not that easy to reel in? >> i think that is true, certainly that they're not that easy to rein in, but he can move in that direction and stop the war of propaganda that has been going on. we have to understand first that ukraine is going to have its role in the outside of world. that means in the western world. we also have to understand that russia faces a fundamental choice. do they want to try to do it? lenin did it in 1923, to stand alone and trying to their own way or try to be part of the west? they have no choice. opportunity might be successful in the short term with public opinion. in the long term he is going to be the loser if he doesn't change what he's doing. >> we're going to take a short break right now and discuss the ongoing confrontation. how do you unreel this? how do you undo some of the damage that's been done over the last several months?

can you? in this is inside story. stay with us.

>> welcome back to inside story on al jazeera america. i'm ray suarez. you're watching a program as we cover the continuing crisis in ukraine. how do you undo the damage that's been done? can you undo the damage that's been done, and how can vladimir putin intervene in a way that

gives everybody a chance to, well, move on and realize their best interest to stop the fighting. alexander, have domestic forces been unleashed inside russia that challenge the president? recently sergei lavrov has been quoted making much tougher statement than puti than putin has, and this was lavrov express ing his opinion. but in most countries mornin foreign ministers don't express opinions that is different from its leader. >> of course there is a debate going on. like in every country. there are different points of view. i would like to point out one important thing. that america has to really,

really step back about what is has done in ukraine. when people start telling us about crimea becoming part of russian soil, it all started in february when there was a coup in kiev. the legitimate government, good or bad, corrupt, and so on, it was removed. it was removed in a violent way, by the way. and so for the united states to now say that this is putin who has stirred up all the problem. and until america and in a sense some european countries accept that it's their fault that the delicate balance which we have in ukraine was completely blown apart just like it happened in iraq, by the way, when the so-called coalition of the willing went in without having any idea what's going to happen

there, the same thing happened here. because there was this de delicate balance that was keeping the country together, and then it was blown apart and an unelected regime took over in kiev. the east part of the country was in shock in horror. if you recall what sort of slogans started coming out of kiev. all russian speakers out. all jews out. all foreigners out. they were torched b by neo-nazis in kiev. but everyone was saying what is that to worry about? this is just a small part of the movement that unseated viktor yanukovych. you can't play games like that. >> let me turn to hunter, that's quite a bill of particulars that you've laid out there, and i'm wondering whether the united states has had that much

control, influence, hidden hand as was suggested by alexander. >> i suspect that nobody has done a great job in ukraine over a lengthy period of time. not much by the united states. we've been more or less bystanders. a lot by asia, and a lot by the ukrainians themselves who have had a lot of trouble getting their act together. the question is what do we do now? there are fairly few simple ideas. one, people in all parts of the government in the country need to have greater control over their own lives. secondly, ukraine is not going to be part of n.a.t.o. it's not going to be part of a russian block, but ukraine is going to be part of the wider world both politically and economically. russia should be, too. if putin had his head screwed on straight, and wanted this country to progress wisely, and if we add the possibility of doing that, this could come out

in a positive way. but if we're pre-occupied with the past as churchill said, we're going to all lose the future. >> michael, you know, reports have been coming out for weeks that talk about heavy armor moving to borders, across borders, mysterious unmarked planes. it's hard from all of these thousands of miles away to know exactly what's going on, but you have an observer mission there. are there elements of military hardware that would be very hard for irregular forces who just decide to grab their rifle and head to the town hall to come up on their own? or had there have to have been outside help? >> oh, absolutely. well, i don't know if there was outside help, but absolutely for the past few weeks we've been reporting on the presence of not just men running around with

ak-47s any more. you have heavy armor, tanks, armored personnel vehicles. and as as i think i mentioned previously when i was on air with you, the presence of one of the most dangerous pieces of equipment these mobile launching pads that can shoot down helicopters and airplanes and now a threat to commercial aviation. there absolutely is equipment that you wouldn't normally find in these areas. in luhansk as long ago as a month and a half ago we documented the presence of over 100 armed groups with as many as 4,000 men. these are some of the people that we confront at check points as we go about our daily business, and i can tell you they're not pleasant for the most part and it makes our monitoring job very difficult. i know we're now talking about

looking ahead there are certain, i think, confidence-building measures that can be put in place to help bring about peace. there has been talk of humanitarian corridor, to allow civilian toss move in and out. and peace talks. perhaps there is more scope to give them a chance and to be more inclusive so that people at least the different sides can listen to each other and find solutions to this conflict. >> we're going to take a short break right now. when we come back we'll discuss the near future. what happens next in ukraine? this is inside story.

>> you're watching inside story on al jazeera america. i'm ray suarez. we're discussing the crisis in ukraine, and we want to end by asking what happens next? ambassador hunter, a group of foreign ministers have gotten

together, they're talking about trying to forge a hard and fast for real cease-fire. can they do it? >> oh, i think as soon as the parties want it to happen, particularly if putin wants it to happen, that can be put in place. the osce is there, and they're very good at making these things work. what is happening now ukraine is now on the map. it has a chance to have a better economy. it has a chance to have better politics. russia has a chance to be a part of the outside world. we have a chance to go back to the architectural building that george h.w. bush started 20 years ago, and it went off the rails. this could come out in a positive way if the key players say let's bet on the future and not the terrible things of the pass. >> alexander, is there enough credibility that russia trusts

that party to monitor such a cease-fire going forward? >> well, russia might trust that party, but unfortunately the locals in the east of ukraine don't trust the european union any more. they don't trust those observers. they think they're biased. and maybe they have some reason for that. unfortunately until the government in kiev represents the whole country this is not a government of unity. there is not a single representative of that government. until that is decided, not just certain groups of people but the whole country, nothing will happen. this is another thing. the think the european union countries and america should stop bluffing but democracy, freedom, the map, ukraine, future. this is an acid grab. we know the name of american businessmen and american

companies who are moving in, taking over. i can give you facts, but we don't have time. until they stop this charade, and stop pretending that this is about democracy and helping ukraine find a better future there will be no peace, and there will be no possibility for a cease-fire and an end to this tragedy. >> quickly before we go, would it have been more likely to have representatives of the east in a government if there hadn't been such hard work done at election time to keep polling places closed and keep voters away from the polls. >> there was no point to hold an election at that time. it was impossible. there was a civil war going on. how do you hold an election. the election was done for one purpose, for president poroshenko to sign that agreement with the european union. and by the way one stroke of the

pen, to write off a debt that the e.u. owed to ukraine for that deal with the nuclear weapons in '94. this election was again about business, not democracy, not freedom, business. >> we'll have to stop it there. to my guests, great to have you here today. thanks for being with us. in washington, i'm ray suarez. >> coming up at 6:00 eastern. violence in jerusalem. palestinian protesters and israeli police square off. many in the west bank say that his death was a revenge

killing. we'll have more from the middle east. and as the government tries to figure out what to do with a huge influx of migrant women and children, protesters force them out of their town. and tim howard may be just the most popular man in america. that and more here at 6:00. this is "techknow," a show about invasions that can change lives. we are going to explore the intersection of hardware and humanity and we are doing it in a unique way. this is a show about science by scientists. let's check out our team of hardcore nerds. dr. shim soma are. a, tonight, ojbriganse motivates with his voice. get ready for something great. stay humble and hungry. imagine if he still had his real voice.