this is "nightline." >> tonight, punishing putin. >> this is a flagrant violation of international law. >> president biden slapping sanctions on wealthy russians and banks. >> if we're talking about putin's strategic goals, actually it's only one, it is very simple, is to stay in power forever. >> from the kgb to the presidency. inside the russian leader's decades-long grip on power. plus, diving with a purpose. the explorer scouring the bottom of the ocean to tell the untold history of the transatlantic slave trade. making history herself. >> this is not just black people's history. this is global history. >> documenting the past and

educating the next generation. robin roberts joining the journey.

♪ good evening. thank you for joinin us. the east-west showdown over

ukraine continues as the stakes get higher. even financial markets around the world wobbled today. now with the winds of war blowing even stronger, some wonder if the door to diplomacy is quickly closing. abc's senior foreign correspondent ian pannell is on the ground in kyiv. >> reporter: president biden tonight unveiling a major package of financial sanctions against russian financial institutions, as well as business elites and their families. the european union, the 27 member states, also unanimously agreeing to a package of financial sanctions, as did the uk. interestingly, germany went ahead and froze this crucial natural gas pipeline known as nordstream 2 that runs from western siberia into germany, that will have a big impact on russia. the question is will it make any difference to vladimir putin, will it alter his thinking, will it alter his behavior? on current evidence the answer is, probably no. if he goes further, the threat is going to be more sanctions ahead.

>> our thanks to ian. putin remains defiant in the face of global condemnation. it's a trait that's helped him remain in power nearly 25 years now. what does putin want? critics say the answer is simple, more power. tonight, much of the world continues to watch and wait and worry about what happens next in ukraine. putin's every move scrutinized after he ordered an evacuation of the russian embassy in kyiv. he stated, there's little room left for negotiations today. doubled down on declaring the two regions held by separatist forces in eastern ukraine are independent states. overnight, russian troops started moving into those regions. while the russian parliament granted putin further permission today to deploy military forces, outside those two areas, indicating russian troops could move in even further into ukraine. u.s. troops in neighboring poland preparing for the worst,

setting up processing centers for possibly up to 1 million evacuees fleeing a full-scale attack. >> this is the beginning of a russian invasion of ukraine. >> reporter: biden for first time calling russia's action an invasion, sharply criticizing the russian leader earlier this afternoon. >> who in the lord's name does putin think gives him the right to declare new so-called countries on territory that belonged to his neighbors? >> reporter: the u.s. and the european union announcing harsher sets of sanctions that would cut russia off from western financing. while also targeting russia's wealthiest elite and their families. >> russia will pay an even steeper price fit continues its aggression, including additional sanctions. >> reporter: shelling and attacks in the eastern ukraine regions of donbas and luhas continues for days. russian-packed separatist groups and putin blaming ukraine. but ukraine and western leaders say the attacks, like this fire

today at a power plant in luhans, are manufactured operations to justify an invasi invasion. putin has often used false flags like these to keep the west guessing. and to legitimize his actions to the people he leads. in mother russia, putin's power remains absolute, even against opposition attempts. gary kasparov, once the greatest chess player in the world, fled russia, fearing retribution after criticizing putin. >> if we talk about putin's strategic goals, actually, it's only one and it's very simple, as for every dictator, to stay in power forever. putin's russia is not a classical dictatorship because it has no ideology. it's more like a mafia state. >> reporter: the modern-day czar has been in power unopposed since 1999, even altering constitutional term limits to allow him to run again in 2024.

>> many russians actually like the fact that he kind of shows to the west he's not a rug under the western feet. if you're not going to recognize us when we speak to you, at least you're going to be freaked out by what we do. >> reporter: nina khrushcheva is the great granddaughter of nikihc aorr strong man who led union during its glory days. she believes putin is playing the long game, to put russia at the center of the world stage. >> russia suffers a superiority complex because of its size and its history and potential. precisely because it's never really accepted to being a european country. >> reporter: putin's persona as a strong, stern leader, fueled by flamboyant photo ops prior to the pandemic and the brutal crushing of his opponents. born in st. petersburg in 1952, putin was the third son and the only one to survive. >> he was from a modest background, and he wasn't

particularly a great student but he was interested in history. and he was very enamored with a lot of kgb-related films. >> reporter: in the '70s, he turned that fascination into a career, joining the kgb, the soviet union's secret police. becoming a mid-level spy. although the kgb technically ended with the fall of the soviet union in 1991, putin's experience as an intelligence officer and watching the soviet union dissolve made its mark. >> he said, once kgb, always kgb. >> we taunt the way the collapse of the soviet union is within living memory. it's important to remember with putin, that is lived memory. not living memory, lived memory. so those are events that he remembers personally, and is angry about. he remembers the soviet period when russia and ukraine were one, and he feels that was right, and it should be restored. >> reporter: he eventually became the chief of russia's counterintelligence agency, the

fsb. there, he targeted rebels in countries that had separated from the soviet union when it dissolved. his success against russia's enemies quickly propelling him to prime minister in 1999. he was elected as acting president the year after and has held on to power ever since. >> so putin doesn't necessarily have status on the world stage, but he does have strength? >> it would depend on how you define status. so if you define it as economic status, then russia is sort of the economic size of a mid-size chinese province. but if you define it in terms of strategic awe topic weapons, that's a different matter. russia is too nuclear to ignore. it's the only real competitor to the united states. that's one of the reasons why putin is using force to solve his problems, because it's an area where he has an edge. >> reporter: putin has not been afraid of military conflict in the past, repeatedly launching

russian troops into former soviet union territories. chechnya, georgia, and most recently, crimea. when in 2014, protesters in kyiv overthrew the pro-russian ukrainian president, demanding democracy in a violent uprising known as "the revolution of dignity." in response, putin swiftly invaded and annexed the peninsula on ukraine's southern front. >> putin's actions against the republic of georgia, putin's actions attacking the ukraine and annexing crimea, they were regional acts. it basically convinced putin that he could do whatever, and why not go for the biggest prize? >> reporter: to threaten putin's authority is to risk one's life. putin accused of silencing his critics through violence, including alexei navalny, once called the man vladimir putin fears most. he's led anti-putin rallies across the country where he's been publicly beaten and nearly

blinded when a green substance was sprayed in his face. "nightline" was there in a russian courtroom in 2017 as navalny was once again facing jail for opposing putin. navalny continued to be an outspoken critic of putin until two years ago, when he was poisoned. passengers on his flight recording the sounds of his moans. he was exposed to the deadly nerve agent nova chock, developed as part of a secret soviet chemical weapons program. >> putin's feeling is you should crush dissent at the earliest possible moment. so he is very sensitive to people who might be rivals. the use of poison certainly seems to have been a consistent theme. there have been poisonings in the uk. navalny, when he started to develop his own domestic political persona, gets poisoned. it's a consistent pattern. >> reporter: navalny was

evacuated to germany, eventuall. but was arrested on arrival after returning to russia just over a year ago and still awaits trial in jail. >> navalny's case essentially killed all the opposition. because since then, very few demonstrations happen. it's dead. essentially, opposition is dead. >> reporter: whether current tensions with ukraine escalate into full-blown war or not -- ♪ ukrainians remain defiant in the face of overwhelming odds, protesting outside the russian embassy today, blasting their national anthem, and not giving up. ♪ up next, an explosirer taki a deep dive for history, making history herself. move. turns out? ite we were breathing that day and night!

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♪ now to the explorer taking a deep dive to document a painful chapter from america's past. uncovering artifacts from shipwrecked slave ships. here's abc's robin roberts. >> reporter: we're going into the depths. >> right now, we are going to venture this area here. >> reporter: with nat geo explorer and storyteller tara roberts. as she sets off on the journey of a lifetime, scuba diving to deepen our understanding of american history. you put so much on hold, and you

followed these extraordinary group of divers. how did you find out about diving with a purpose? >> i happened to go to the national museum of african american history and culture right there in d.c. there was a picture of a group of primarily black women in wet suits on a boat. and i discovered that they were a part of this group called "diving with a purpose" and that their mission was to search for and help document slave shipwrecks around the world. it spurred some stuff inside of me. >> reporter: the group of black divers searching for artifacts at the bottom of the ocean to uncover the untold history of the transatlantic slave trade. 1.8 million lives lost. about 1,000 ships brecked. most recently the "clotilde," remains found in alabama in 2019. >> this is not just black people's history, this is global history. there were four continents

involved in the global slave trade. it went on for 400 years. the interesting of africans changed coastlines, landscapes, it created wealth, it diminished wealth. >> reporter: so tara dived in, quitting her job and receiving her super bocuba certification bring diving with a purpose to life. her undersea adventures are being told in a new podcast "into the departments" produced by national geographic, a division of disney, abc's parent company. >> there's all this history that exists. we have not touched the surface. >> can you describe to folks the work that you have done? >> it's like a three-month process of learning how to be a scuba diver. you have to get 30 ocean dives under your belt. i got to know the divers, who are incredible. >> from all walks of life? >> all walks of life. they're not necessarily scientists or historians.

they're yoga teachers, policemen, civil engineers, students. and they are committed to this work. >> reporter: for tara and dwp, it's all about preserving our heritage and educating the next generation. we went out on the water for a scuba training session led by dive with a pump instrurpose in kramer wimberally. >> where do you determine where these ships could be? >> some archaeologist says, we think this ship lays somewhere in this area. we will go down into the area and create a site map of everything that exits. once we identify the potential artifacts, we go down and sketch what it looks like. >> what's it like for you personally? >> it's being able to tell the stories of those nameless africans who were on this ship and recognizing we need to turn this over to young people who are going to end up being the

ones who can continue to work once we're done. >> reporter: that includes tara's 13-year-old nieces, wu and shi, now following in their aunt's footsteps. >> now we can glance down, and we want to see how much air we have. >> reporter: training for weeks to receive their own certification. >> me and shi are out here training and practicing for our dive. it's fun. it's always going to be fun. >> i like how she goes scuba diving, and she saw a lot of things. >> hopefully i don't see a shark. >> reporter: the duo putting in practice to take the giant leap of faith. their first time diving into open water. >> it's really cool. sd t a sha. they, in fact, saw a shark, plenty of fish, and their proud auntie tara on the other side. >> all right!

this next generation that's coming along, your nieces. what was it about your story what you do, that inspired them to want to get in the water? >> i think it's sort of like me seeing the picture of the divers in the museum. we're not often seen represented in places. if you're not seen, then people don't think that that's for them. >> now you're representing because you are the first black woman explorer/storyteller on the cover of "nat geo" magazine. >> that's so crazy. i grew up reading "nat geo." and i never saw, like, explorers that look like me. so it's mind-blowing to see this picture. >> reporter: looking back -- can be difficult, can be painful. the pain of this history. how do you reconcile all of that with the work that you're doing and what it means? >> yeah.

i'd say that when i started this work, i didn't want to look back at our past. what i've found inside of this work, there's something that is surprisingly healing about this work. there's agency. this idea that a group of people, ordinary people, have raised their hands and said, you know what, that history is important and i'm going to do what i can to help raise it from the depths. there's something really empowering about that. >> our thanks to robin. up next, the major off the field victory for the u.s. women's soccer team. looking to get back in your type 2 diabetes zone? once-weekly ozempic® can help. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it.

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♪ finally tonight, the u.s. women's national soccer team ending the long fight for equal pay with a multimillion-dollar settlement. a historic win for the women, ending a six-year battle with the u.s. soccer federation. the players reached a $24 million settlement for equal

pay. >> we can't go back and undo the injustices that we faced, but only justice coming out of this is that we know that something like this is never going to happen again. >> u.s. soccer agreeing to equal pay for men and women in all competitions, including the world cup. brava. that's "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. see you right back here, same time tomorrow. thanks for the company, america. good night.