the journal coming to you live from berlin. byy approve the request vladimir putin to send troops to the region. they on a collision course with washington. -- they are on a collision course with washington. we start with the major developments unfolding in the ukraine. russia's parliament has approved to sendt by putin

troops to the region. he has not decided how he will use the force. he is waiting to see how the situation in the crimean principal develops. he wants russia out of his country. the armed troops have taken control of the peninsula. we will go live to moscow and the crimea after this report. >> these heavily armed military units have surrounded the airport. insigniasrs where no and refuse to say who is giving them orders. the ukrainian government has no doubt. insays russia has sent thousands of troops. the new government in kiev called it an invasion. >> they are on the territory of crimea. it is nothing but a provocation.

russia intends to draw ukraine into military conflict. kiev this cabinet in is more than a power struggle with moscow. they have taken a pro-russian stance. the new prime minister of the autonomous region has taken command of security forces to move forward with a referendum on crimea's future. >> i ask russian president vladimir putin to offer help in providing peace and order in the territory of the autonomous republic of crimea. >> that sounds like an invitation to russian troops. europeans and americans are concerned about this development. u.s. president barack obama sent a clear warning. any violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity will be deeply

destabilizing. the united states will stand with the international immunity in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in the ukraine. >> obama is considering a boycott of the g8 summit in sochi. it is unlikely that such gestures will discourage the russian government from its course in the crimean government. all signs point to confrontation. the ukrainian government has placed the troops on high alert. it emphasizes that it will not bow to provocation from russia. >> we are going to go live now to our correspondent in moscow. putin says he still making up his mind. they have approved the troops. this is more than a show of strength. >> it does seem like more than that, actually. experts have been

telling us that it is not like that. he is just around the corner. he wants to take time and put pressure on the ukraine to see how they react to this. his spokesperson came out one hour ago and said he is now closely looking at the nouation, which also has reason for panic yet. increased the stake in the war of nerves and will get serious. hardly anybody has doubts about that now. is a difficultin position. he has to appear strong. day, the the last

whole scenario has been building up. at first we saw russians in the crimea, appealing to russia for help during then the prime minister of crimea asking them to step in. all of this was a kind of build up to them showing up and saying, yes, we will be there to help them. russians per trade this whole portrayed this as a peacekeeping situation. if is what some russians believe. >> we heard a clear message from washington. there will be costs for military intervention. how is that weighing in? them hesitant about the decisions that were taken. when the upper house of parliament was taking the

decision if they would grant putin the permission to have the troops activate on crimea, they seemed very angry by those words that barack obama said yesterday, that there would be costs for an intervention. and said they felt insulted by that. he did not want to listen to any of that cynical talk. it seems they are set up with the west, with the u.s. statements. the repeated that they feel that the u.s. and european union are responsible for what happened in the ukraine. that then that's helped the west to gain power. >> how seriously do they take the threat of retaliation from washington? they did not take it seriously at all. putin will not take it fiercely.

in general, he perceives the west and barack obama as weak, especially since in the syria crisis, obama to a red line, and then when chemical weapons were used, no military intervention happened. since then, russia does not consider him a strong leader at all. nothing that the u.s. or europe will say will stop the kremlin from acting the way that it wants. >> crimea was part of washington not too long ago. you are sitting in moscow. how do russians feel? do they feel it is their territory? , i thinkssian psyche they feel close to crimea. it is the spot where they like to go on holiday. it even if it is not for everyone a political question, a field that it is their people there. it is their troops. with the russian tv pretraining

for days the situation in crimea, they were not allowed to speak the language anymore. they were showing soviet war memorials were attacked. this is probably fueled this feeling among most russians that the state needs to act on this. many russians, as i said, a feel it is a good move that russia should show that they are strong, that they are ready to protect their people. they have closely followed what happened, some of them with envy, because they would wish for a kind of revolution like that in russia. there are people who are feeling solidarity anyway with the movement. they clearly feel that the kremlin and vladimir putin is stepping over his boundaries, and once again, violating international law. but that is a minority.

that is people opposed to his system. >> thank you for that update from moscow. europe is watching those development with alarm. the british foreign secretary has called the move a potentially grave threat to ukraine's independence. they said that the decision to use armed forces in the ukraine is an unwarranted escalation of tension. the leaders will hold emergency talks on monday. the german government is responding in crimea with a concern. they were in regular telephone contact with vladimir putin and with ukrainian politicians to territorialent any division of the ukraine. they called on all sides to find a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the crisis. they praised political reforms announced by the new interim government in kiev.

they said that europe had a historic responsibility to support the country. we are joined by our correspondent in brussels. it seems like washington and moscow are on a collision course over the situation in the ukraine. where does this leave europe in the situation? >> a very difficult situation. they want to help negotiate and de-escalate. but there is a clear position here. the territorial integrity of the ukraine is important. they cannot allow that to be touched. they also said, for example, the british ministers said they condemned the russian decision. they took a very clear situation. it puts them in a difficult situation. there is an emergency meeting. they now have to be credible. it is a little bit hard to decide what they do now.

will it be sanctions? will they reconsider the energy relations with russia? it is a difficult situation europe is in now. >> it seems they are intent on keeping the diplomatic channels open. but will a diplomatic solution work? >> they hope it will. this is the most severe crisis since the cold war. there are still a lot of diplomatic channels. there is soviet interdependence. there are some money channels, they have traditionally, the g-8, nato, and others. there are established connections. and the head of state is in contact with the leaders in russia. there is hope with the high representatives going to kiev. >> thank you for that report from brussels.

correspondent in the crimea. alexander, it has been a tense situation there. tell us what is going on. >> some interesting developments going on here. presumably, russian soldiers took over control of key sites in the city. now there are reports that those men have started to pull out of the city center, and the pro-russian militia has taken over the control. i have been to the parliamentary building behind me. i have not seen any armed men and there. i have only seen members of the pro-russian militia. the government has issued a statement in the evening saying that everything is now under control, that the situation is stable, and there are reports that the airspace over crimea is not closed anymore, at least,

according to official sources. the airport has started to work again. >> who is in control of the militia groups in the crimea? the suspicion is that moscow is orchestrating a takeover. here iswe can say from is in the hands of the pro-russian forces because, as i told you, they have taken the control of the city a few hours ago. it i talked to a spokesperson of the ukrainian armed forces here. unitsd me that some large of ukrainian armed forces has been surrounded by armed men ldmanding that they shou

joined the pro-russian forces. although, we do not know what is going on behind the scenes, we can still say the situation is tense. >> some say that there has been secession for a while. could we see them break away from the ukraine? >> i'm sorry. i could not get the question. could we see the peninsula break away from ukraine? well, as you know, the pro-russian forces here are very strong, and many people i talked to said they are very happy about russian protection. they have been waiting for a long time. they want crimea to be part of russia. but, of course, that is what everyone here thinks.

many people do not want crimea to break away from ukraine. >> thank you for joining us. we are going to take a short break. we will be back with more on the ukraine crisis in just a moment. >> welcome back. staying with the crisis in ukraine. they are concerned about developments there. barack obama sent a clear warning to moscow to refrain from military intervention in ukraine. obama said that infringing on their sovereignty would have a clear cost good -- cost. he said any intervention into ukraine territory would be deeply destabilizing and not in the interest of ukraine, russia, or europe. we are joined by our correspondent in the studio in washington.

we have seen a flurry of activity on the capital. can you tell us what is happening in washington now? >> the secretary of defense, chuck hagel, had a conversation with his russian counterpart today. probably the u.s. is going to condemn any violation of ukrainian serenity. there is no new reaction from president obama yet written as you just mentioned, he said yesterday that there would be costs for any military intervention. he did not say exactly what he meant by that. is he not going to the next g8 summit to russia? is he going to stop trade negotiations or talks with the kremlin? what we see right now are many meetings in the west wing of the white house and the state department. >> he warned russian aunties force. the parliament approved the use of force. what kind of leverage does president obama have in the situation?

>> the former ambassador to the united nations, the former american ambassador, said just a couple of hours ago that the u.s. does not have any strong leverage in this. russia has boots on the ground. ukraine is not a member of nato. i think washington does not have any sort of leverage in moscow. but they have a lot of leverage in kiev. all of those politicians are supported by washington very strongly. what i think washington should government andhe say it was not very smart to ask no politician to do this. maybe it was not very wise that the russian language is no inger an official language

ukraine. those were mistakes. here in washington he said that the new government made a couple of mistakes. he said, i think we should use our influence, meeting western europe and the u.s. to talk with the government in kiev and tell them to make those mistakes -- correct those mistakes. >> it has been a turbulent eight days in the ukraine. what started with the ousting of the president has led to a tense standoff with russia over control of the crimea. here is a look. ofone of the political icons the 2004 orange revolution was released from jail one week ago. visibly weakened by years of imprisonment, she addressed pro-european protesters, telling them they had defeated a dictatorship.

earlier, the ukrainian parliament had voted to remove viktor yanukovych from office. they sang the national anthem. day, the parliamentary speaker took over as acting president. reacted strongly to the developments, with the prime minister distancing the kremlin from the new leadership. >> there is no one there to talk to. the government does not exist. there is no legitimacy of the power that is functioning there. >> russia has a strategic interest at stake, especially the military base home to the black sea feet fleet.

on thursday, the pro-european opposition politicians had an elected prime minister by a large majority. he had a clear message in his inaugural speech. willr crimean's, we guarantee safety. no one will split ukraine. we are ukrainian. we are united. despite the fact that we have religious, language, and >> other differences. >>pro-russian presidents continue to demonstrate. he insisted he was still the rightful president. heavily armed russian military units occupied strategic locations on saturday. that is a provocation for the new leadership. we will keep a close eye on

those developments. for now, we moving onto other international news. they they kicked off campaign at a conference in rome, by naming their leading candidate. leader asthe candidate. he could become the head of the european commission. first, he has to drum up interest among voters. schulz has one of the top jobs in brussels. as president of the european parliament, he is calling on european lawmakers to be proactive, whether it is on budget issues or banking reform. above all, he wants to restore people's faith in the ee you as an organization that supports social justice. the richest part of the world

is able to distribute the wealth in a more fair and just way. that is between countries and people. >> schulz was on the receiving 2000f a verbal attack in three. the italian prime minister said he would recommend him for the role of a not see prison guard. was at date, schulz member of the european parliament for five years. perspectiveopean third one of his proudest moments came in 2012, when the eu awarded him the nobel peace price. now he is hoping to play a greater role in european politics. our correspondent was following today's a vent in rome. event more on -- today's

in rome. he has more on it. >> he wants to be the next commission president, the head of the eu executives. to do that, he has to boost the turnout. the turnout is very low in european elections. 40%. that heold the audience wants to boost its five percent more. win the wit socialist could majority in the parliament. he has to look for the endorsement of the heads of state and government of the european union. they have a very important say in this business. there is also the other candidate from the conservative camp. he is not named yet. but it should be clear that the former prime minister of has to be, schulz

him, of course. there is a long way to go before toulz can work on his agenda create jobs and close the gap between rich and poor in europe. >> that was from rome. to another breaking story. another deadly attack has been deemed a terratec. 27 people were killed. within 100 people were injured. a group of people wearing uniforms and armed with knives stormed the area and southern china. we have no more information at this time. to sports now. another fine victory against saint petersburg. -- theyworld number steamrolled them. they all scored in the second half.

let's take a look at the rest of the weekend results. they finished the same way. they won the derby do with hamburg. for bring for it against stuttgart. he there was a closely fought draw. could prove vital in their battle. of febrile away team -- feeble away team. neither side drew blood. scoring opportunities were a rare sight. attention lapses marked the match. in the second half, ramos had

the best chances. coach's team remain in the drop zone. >> back to our top story. russian officials of taken de facto control of the autonomous ukrainian public -- republic of crimea. they have authorized president putin to send troops into the region. the u.s. has warned that russia must respect ukrainian sovereignty. the situation remains tense. we will have more on the story for you. thank you for watching.

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