crimea. what russia means for crimea and what crimea means for russia. where everything is permeated with our common history and pride. this is where the prince was baptized. it determined the fundamentals that unite the peoples of russia, ukraine. the grace of the russian soldiers that incorporated the soldiers into russian state. crimea, the city of great faith, the city of fortress. and the russian black sea navy. crimea is set up on a mountain. all these places are sacred for us. they are symbols of russian military glory and valor. crimea is also the convergence of different nations. and in that sense he is very much like great russia. where not a single ethnic group. crimea and other nations lived and worked together in the crimea peninsula preserving their ethnicity, their identity and language and their faith. of the residents of crimea, there are a million and a half russians, 300,000 aou rain yanns who speak russian. and 290,000 of them are towards russia. yes, there was a prerd when as many as a few other ethnic groups of people were unjustly r

crimea stays in russian hands, it is split. beyond that how much putin decides to take and how much he succeeds in taking, it is largely in his hands and not ours, but we'll see. >> paul? >> crimea, i think, is probably lost. but i think the loss of crimea drives the rest of ukraine much more firmly toward the west over time. we need our european allies really to step up to the plate to help to make that happen. >> and also, we need to be there too. gentlemen, thank you so much. please, give them a hand. washington journal continues. host: we are joined >> more on the situation in ukraine from "washington journal." his is 45 minutes. >> essentially what they are going to be asked is do they want to be part of ukraine, or do want to join the russian coalition. they are largely russian speaking, and there is a large part of the population that has traditional ties to russia. more than 40% of the population is ukrainian, and more than 12% f the population >> why was this seen as a big deal for the united states and russia? >> it is a big deal for the united states, because the united states has upheld eritorial integrity. to have a vote where they assert adverse to ukraine. in russia, russia has also been great believer in national soverei

for crimea -crimea -- [ overlapping speakers ] >> i would like to ask you a question if you would stop talking for a moment. do you feel there are signs that russia is ready to start a war over crimeaf course not, because there is no need -- to war with whom? haven't you heard today one uranian deputy gave interview and said mobilization? it's a joke. nothing is moving. nothing is flying. we don't have anything -- >> this is not true. >> i would like you to weigh in on this. >> well, first of all, there were confirmed redemriment of russia troops from russia that was done through the [ inaudible ] street. also the russian troops have surrounded all of the uranian military bases in crimea. i'm not sure what kind of agreement allows russian troops to surround the military bases and demand the surrender of arms that the uranian military has there, and order the uranian troops to withdraw. on what basis are the russian authorities demanding that? there have been incident of russian fighter jets going into the uranian air space. there have been demands for the warships to come to the russian side. what the entire world is recognizing essentially, except russia is the outright aggression

crimea where these women want the russian military out. >> we'll have robin's report coming up a little bit later. let's take a look at some of the tensions being felt by people in the crimea, the russian speakers there all see it very differently to the way the ukrainians and western leaders do. because primarily, crimea was russian territory and the majority of people there identify themselves as russian. in fedozia in crimea. >> they arrived and blocked access to the faithful base in eastern crimea. inside the ukrainian service men have so far refused to surrender. residents of the village have turned up to lend their support to the russians who are surrounding the base. the russian soldiers are leaving it up to the people to convince the ukrainians inside to switch sides. >> translator: the soldiers pledged to be loyal to ukraine and to the real government chosen by the ukrainians. not yet sanuk and his people, if they put their guns down and join the crimean people we will protect them and be grateful to them. i hope they make the right choice. >> feel betrayed by the new pro-western government in kiev. america, we will not let you through, they shout. while kiev accuses the russians of invading crimea, for the russian ethnic majority who live here they are save yors. saviors. the soldiers don't t

crimea crimea. today the parliament issued the resolution explaining that in crimea they are observing the external presence encouraging the clashes. the group identified people yesterday yesterday, dressed the ukrainian parliament and cabinet of ministers ministers. the parliament took the decision to have the referendum in may. the same situation happened recently in the two airports of crimea crimea. the group blocked the airports. i briefed the security council. i don't have my copies but my people do have. the current situation at the moment of unspecified and armed forces of russian federation in the territory of ukraine. we informed about the illegal crossing the borders by russian military transport aircrafts. around 10 of them, six plus four arrived. and 11 military cargo -- or 11 military helicopters also crossed the borders as well as the swaeugsituation -- the other situation situation. not transports. 24. we informed about the -- i just forgot the number. we informed the russian navy officer moved his contingent and demanded to explain what is going opbn. he is a russian navy captain wh

crimea? it's all gone! it's gone. crimea. oh, crimea. we hardly knew ye. [ laughter ] seriously, we knew nothing about ye. [ laughter ] because ye are not really a part of our strategic or fossil fuel type interests. [ laughter ] so you may be wondering if we don't know anything about ye -- larry [laughter] -- why are such serious people in america so seriously sad about this crimea development? is it because of how deeply this country believes in democracy or free peoples or maybe. >> growing claims that president obama and the united states look weak as russian president putin flexes his muscles in the ukraine. we have created an image around the world not just for the russians of weakness. >> putin sometimes makes his move when he per seefs an american president to be weak. >> jon: we care about crimea and the crimeans because russia taking it over makes us look weak. as you know we have a foreign policy that is focused primarily on compare active penis -- compareative penis size. if putin is going to add crimea to the tip of russia's

crimea is ukraine. foreign minister lavrov just told reporters that crimea is more important to russia than faulkland is to russia. [ inaudible ] and if not -- or even if so, why wouldn't greater ah tawny -- why would it not set a dangerous precedent for the rest of the nation in terms of appeasing russia. >> the issue of additional autonomy for crimeaas been on the table prior to russia making these moves. so that's really a decision for the ukrainian government to make, number one, number two in his visit to washington, prime minister yatsenyuk made it very clear they are prepared to provi provide additional autonomy. and they in fact i think see it as strengthening. but we don't know what president putin is going to decide. what was made clear today in the context of president putin being unwilling to make any decisions until the vote has been taken. he has said once that vote is taken, he will make a decision with respect to what will happen, and i would say to him today as i said to foreign minister lavrov, that is a decision of enormous consequence with respect to the global community. we believe that a decision to move forward by russia to ratify that vote officially would in fact be a back door annexation of crimea, and against international law, and frankly fly in the face of every legitimate effort to try to reach out to r

crimea. it's not a done deal in the sense that the international community by and large is not recognizing the annexation of crimea. obviously the facts on the ground are that the russian military controls crimeathere are a number of individuals inside of crimea that are supportive of that process. there's no expectation that they will be dislodged by force, and so what we can bring to bear are the legal arguments, the political arguments, the sanctions already in place to make sure there is a cost to that process, but, you know, i think it would be dishonest to suggest that there is a simple solution to rel solving what has already taken place in crimea. although, you know, history has a funny way of moving in twists and turns and not just in a straight line. so, you know, how the situation evolves in part depends on making sure the international community stays unified in indicating that this was an illegal action on the part of russia. with respect to the russian troops that are along the border of ukraine at the moment. right now they are on russian soil, and if they stay on russian soil, we -- we oppose what appears to be an effort at intimidation, but russia has a right, legally to have

crimea is probably him.stically lost to >> will this aggression go further and split ukraine? >> we have eight days until the referendum in crimea. country and this effective administration, i think eight days would be enough time to try to work with moscow and others to point crimea in the direction of much greater hadnomy, somewhat like it under ukraine's 1992 constitution and ukraine had -- when crimea had much greater autonomy than it has now. with the leadership that we currently have, i think that it is very unlikely that that heavy lift will be accomplished in eight days. ukrainelook at eastern and compare it to crimea, crimea is roughly the size of the state of maryland, geographically. there are about 2 million people there, so the population density is not too high. eastern ukraine is a totally different situation. sending the russian military into eastern ukraine, into major urban centers where the , and inon is divided many cases more divided than crimea, that could potentially be very costly. it is certainly very different -- is surely a different russiansthan sending into crimea, which certainly was and of the russian empire the russian republic of the soviet union. that is until 1954. it is just a different situation, and president putin may come to

crimea. ukraine under lee against to pro-russian forces. >> with more on the ukraine crisis, more western leaders are calling for the call for russia to back off crimea. we'll be live at that meeting in brussels where sanctions are being discussed. [ gunfire ] >> also ahead an exclusive with syrian opposition, fighters trying to hold up a new government assault in aleppo. words and not weapons, how rwandaen soldiers are bringing peace to the central african return. >> the west is pounding pressure on russia as pro kremlin forces tighten it's grip on ukraine's crimea. warnings to russia, and russia's foreign minister said his country's presence is needed to protect ukraine. soldier in military base in crimea are refusing to leave despite to being surrounded by men who are thought to be russian forces. could you just give us an update as to where you are right now, what's happening on the ground? >> reporter: well, i'm just in front of the base, and about a a half hour ago the commander came out and spoke to the media, and he said basically that he is not surrendering to the russians at this stage. he said it had gone to meet with his commanders for technical reasons, but at the moment he remains under the command of kiev. his soldiers will remain inside the base. he said he was offered a hand by the russian cossacks who told him, can we come in and help protect the weapons? he refused that and said he can protect the weapons inside the base. he also promised that those weapons will remain inside the base. they will not be given to anyone else. we

crimea, and right now the russian military occupation is pretty complete across crimea. >> that is the russian position but there were more turn warnings from western leaders to russian president vladimir putin, including from german chancchancellor merkel. >> that's right. the ambassador to kiev spoke in the ukrainian capitol today. jeffy paotz made clear that russia should not annex crimea. >> crimea should ancrimea is ana part of ukraine. that said, i'm encouraged by the ukrainian prime minister indicating the ukrainian government is willing to enhance autonomy for the people of crimea. >> they are encouraged by the conversation that angela merkel had with putin over the weekend. she said the referendum scheduled for next sunday is illegal and will not be recognized by the international community. she told vladimir putin that if russia continued in this way, the european union would consider sanctions, travel sanctions and freezing of assets. not talking about trade sanctions but more leverage on russia. but the question is will they care? >> jennifer glass, thank you very much. >>> we're expecting key testimony in a few minutes in the new york trial of osama bin laden's son-in-law. the trial is now in its second week and federal prosecutors say it is ewho acted as an al-qaeda spokesman after the september 11th attacks. john, the star witnesses have yet to appear but w

crimea region. -- crimea region. a tense standoff in the crimea. base in crimea was taken over by russian troops and they took control of crimea. unarmed ukrainian servicemen have marched towards the base and are demanding it back. they have been met by one dozen russian soldiers and no one is denying that there are soldiers anymore. fired warning shots and they were not in the direction of the ukrainian soldiers. they are, as far as i know, the very first shots fired in the conflict and give us a sense of how tense and tenuous and difficult things are right now in crimea. >> we also had the imf getting talks and what can we expect from that? >> they get underway and it is interesting timing, considering the military presence in the south of the country. what we can expect, i have been told by a person familiar with the talks, is for the ukraine to ask for and receive $3 billion, the first tranche that the ukraine expects to get from the imf as part of a financial aid .rogram that ukraine has asked it would come in at $15 billion. this is after the

a week before the referendum on whether crimea crimea should join russia or stay in ukraine. they believe next week crimea will be russian. some have already been to moscow. >> if you could only know and feel what it was like in moscow. if you could feel how happy the russian government was, i thought it was not us joining russia but russia joining crimea. >> russia continues to consolidate military gains. last week, it captured this base in malaclova bay. they took what ships and vehicles they could and fled by sea. on sunday morning, russian forces took another base like it in western ukraine. life in this resort town is largely uninterested by the milwaukee and military maneuvering. he says he will state no matter how the vote goes next week. tranchÉes >> translator: i love it here, the sea, the nature. i want to live here. if the majority decides to be with russia, then we will be with russia but we will be ukrainians. >> back here, the blockade makes chores like taking out the trash arduous no one knows what will happen to the ukrainian black sea fleet and its sailors. gener jennifer glasse, sevastop

the 16th f march. 97% of those who voted did so in favor of crime area -- crimea sis -- crimea's secession. subsequently, crimea declared independence which was recognized by the russian ederation. on the 17th of march, the european union and the u.s. applied sanctions against russian and crimean officials. on 18th of march, president putin went ahead with a treaty to make crimea a part of the ussian federation. at the same time, the government in ukraine has vowed to never accept crimea's independents, stating crimea is an an integral part of ukraine. yesterday ukraine's prime minister expressed concern that the conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage. this followed reports that ukrainian -- a ukrainian officer was killed. in front of a military base. following this incident, the eputy prime minister and defense minister plan to travel to crimia today. this underscores the dire need immediate opening of direct dialogue between moscow and kiev. reports are emerging that two naval bases have been taken over by pro-russian forces or unidentified groups. hile initial reports suggest that the seiz

figure and it is correlated to the figures in crimea referendum, 92% are for joining of crimea to russia. in this way, the majority of citizens of russia and crimeag the secession of crimea to russia, russian federation. [ applause ] >> now is case of political decision of russia and this decision can be based only on the will of people, because only people are the sources of any power. dear members of parliament, citizens of russia, citizens of crimea and sevastopol today on the basis of the decision of referendum in crimea, based on the will of people, our federal committee is asked to consider the secession of crimea and town of sevastopol to russia. [ applause ] >> also to modify the agreement on crimea secession to crimea bill need to be modified. i am not doubting your support. [ applause ] >> in few minutes, the ceremony of signing will happen. we ask to you remain seated. it is direct transmission from the big hall of kremlin. >> you've been listening to russian president vladimir putin addressing the members of the russian parliament, speaking for an hour and 15 minutes how the issue of secession of crimea from ukraine saying just a shor

crimea. crimea was part of russia until 1954 when it was given to ukraine by the soviets. even then it was semi- independent with its own parliament. nearly 80% of the people in crimea say russian is their native language and many are happy to return to the russian federation. why is this a superpower struggle? well, have a look. these are the nato countries lead by the united states in blue. there is russia in red and ukraine is caught right in the middle between the two. east of the nipa river most folks identify with russia, to the west most want to be part of western europe. charlie d'agata spoke with them in the capitol kiev. >> reporter: today in independence square the heart of the revolution, there is a funeral for one of the leading figures of the protest movement that has forced ukraine pro- russia president to flee. "heroes don't die," they chanted, and called him a patriot and a fighter. that's where we met 24-year-old sergei magdanik, an engineer who joined the demonstrations months ago. now he's prepared for another fight. you signed up for the military this morning? >> yes, sure, officially. >> reporter: officially. >> yeah. >> reporter: are you not w

crimea-only holiday? that policy? is not crimea. crimea is easy. there is a lot of foreign and domestic policy. putin wants to create a eurasian union. that is supposed to include all of the soviet states. ukraine is a big prize. >> it would increase the population of russia. >> the argument you can make is that all of you get out of this is crimea, you have lost strategically. if you have part of eastern ukraine, you have lost strategically. you need all of ukraine. the game is about how you get a government that is going to be not hostile. it will not move closer to that. it will keep ukraine in play to a point. >> professor kimberly marten just said that ancients may not do much for us. what is your view? do we have economic tools that could get president putin to temper his ambitions? >> no. we are not prepared to do a lot of harm. it has to be both. it has to be a consolidated issue. there is a lot of economic hardship you could create that might cause putin to rethink. we would have to be prepared to sacrifice on our side. they are intertwined. you cannot hurt them without hurting us. the

crimea. you can see crimea flags and russian flags. crimea'sent just voted in favor of becoming part of russia. it will ask the people in a referendum to ratify the decision 10 days from now. you've been with bc world news. thanks for joining me. back at the same time tomorrow. bye-bye. getting your vegetables every day? when i can. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. two full servings of vegetables for only 50 delicious calories. ♪ ♪ the new vanilla macchiato from starbucks. crafted by hand and heart. i can't believe your mom has a mom cave! today i have new campbell's chunky spicy chicken quesadilla soup. she gives me chunky before every game. i'm very souperstitious. haha, that's a good one! haha! [ male announcer ] campbell's chunky soup. it fills you up right. you can't always see them. but it's our job to find them. the answers. the solutions. the innovations. all waiting to help us build something better. something more amazing. a safer, cleaner, brighter future. at boeing, that's what building something better is all about. ♪

crimea. let me quote the self-proclaimed prime minister of crimea. there will be no independents, he said to the press, for crimea. crimea must join russia. it may happen in the next week or so. it is a missed context that this council has voted for a resolution condemning the legal referendum in crimea, saying yes to the nonuse of force. yes to the sovereignty and territorial integrity and political independence of ukraine. and by way of extension of any sovereign state. my country's yes is a yes to nonaggression. to free choice of destiny. to democracy and the rule of law. to the internationally accepted rules of behavior, based on the morals and principles of international law. today's veto is not business as usual. they be doing this resolution, built on the tenants of the charter, which states that all members shall refrain from a threat or use of force against territorial integrity or political independence of any state. or in any other manner inconsistent with the practices of the united nations. if there is a dispute, it could endanger peace and security. first of all, we will seek a solution by negotiati

this foreseeable future is essentially a version of what we have where they essentially sit on crimea, crimea one way or another becomes autonomous or somehow gets more into the russian orbit and this becomes the new normal for the foreseeable future. >> all right. richard, thank you so much for your time and for explaining everything to us. we really appreciate it. >> thanks, for having me. >> up next, with reon the money. billionaire investor warren buffet breaks down how to retire rich and buying bonds isn't at the top of the list. >> people retire at 65, they probably have an expectable life span of 20 years and i would own equities. . . >> he is the oracle of omaha, one of the world's greatest investors. warren buffet sat down with me in a rare interview this week. in the past, he said you should be greedy when others are fearful and fearful within others a greedy. so what does he feel now. >> it's in between. you certainly are not seeing a lot of fear, but except maybe in a few tech areas you haven't seen me take over either. most of the time the market is in a zone or regional. it's oc

crimea. crimea's new leader says some 11,000 troops have flooded the peninsula. the kremlin ordered ukraine troops in the region to put down their weapons and join with russia or else. russia is controlling the flow of into crimea, pulling the plun all newscasts. they're hearing putin's voice oring in. we could still get a ukrainian news channel near kiev but network officials say they're off the air in crimea. they've say an armed mob blocked their journalists from entering the region and threatened to ya the journalist as human shields in the event of any attack. today ukraine's nucleide called crime use's vote to join russia a criminal act with russian president putin the culprit. >> are we going crazy? is it acceptable? that in the 25 centuries with no legal ground, with in reason, one country, which possess a nuclear weapon, just decides in a snap to invade another. >> it is a good question. the secretary of state john kerry met for the second straight day with misrussian counterpart but russian's foreign minister said they could not reach an agreement and cited the united states' threat of economic punishment which the kremlin has vowed would trigger a tough retaliation. at the white house, despite the th

now pledge their loyalty to crimea government, and crimea prime minister declared himself as commander in chief and he is going to establish a ministry of defense for crimeaoverlapping speakers ] >> i would like to ask you a question if you would stop talking for a moment. do you feel there are signs that russia is ready to start a war over crimea? >> of course not. because there is no war with whom? haven't you heard today one ukrainian deputy gave interview and said mobilization? it's a joke. nothing is moving. nothing is flying. we don't have anything -- >> this is not true. >> i would like you to weigh in on this. >> first of all there were confirmed redeployment of russia troops from moscow that was done through the carriage street. all the russian troops have surrounded all of the ukrainian military bases this crimea i'm not sure what kind of agreement allows the troops to demand the surrender of arms that ukrainian military has there, and want the ukrainian troops to withdraw. on what basis are russian authorities demanding that? there have been incense independents of russian fighter jets going to the ukrainian air space, there have been demands o

crimea, on crimea. i think going to crimea for the last 12 years. i'm crimea jamestown foundation and scholar school for conflict resolution at george mason. i just wanted to address -- [inaudible] i apologize for that my voice. i spoke with the leader of the crimean national movement in crimea and he spoke with president putin on the 12th of this month because putin wanted to talk to him and he invited him to to moscow and they spoke on the phone putin asked him his support for the annexation and everything and he told him that they always supported ukrainian territorial integrity and this, annexation that he was planning was against budapest agreement of 1994. he came back and he told the crimean tatar people that everything was planned and this is my opinion now, not his but mine. you are talking about the soldiers. first of all, there were like 25,000 soldiers in, together in sevanstapol you but those green men are not my worries. my worry is i have been in crimea last 12 years and interviewing not only crimean tatars, who are called the russian

crimea region. crimea's leaders say crimea is going home to russia.ama and russia's president putin spoke today on the phone about the tense situation. sanctions against russia could start as early as tomorrow. >>> plus, we're also tracking dramatic new twists in the search for malaysia flight 370. the airliner disappeared now ten days ago, triggering the aviation mystery that's baffled the world. here are the new developments as we know them today. pakistan says no trace of the missing plane ever showed up on its radar systems. and pakistan says the plane would have been treated as a threat if it did show up. right now police are examining a flight simulator taken from the pilot's home and new scrutiny is baring down on both the pilot and copie lot. plus, the search for the missing airliner is switching gears. why it may have landed before the last satellite contact. we are bringing in the experts to track the missing flight. but first, with such a huge search area, malaysian authorities are asking the question where to begin. we have andrew stephens

crimea. he did not receive that confirmation and he does not have any power to invite any troops, foreign troops into crimea. >> how do you respond to that? >> yeah, listen -- i can't listen to all of this nonsense, because people doesn't have any idea what is really going on in crimeat of all the prime minister -- and he was elected by ukrainian parliament and his candidacy really was approved by only this moment [ inaudible ] institution in ukraine by president yanukovych. first. second, the crimea parliament doesn't recognize the legitimacy of current power in kiev because they violated an agreement signed by yanukovych which was agreed to by leaders from poland, and france. that's why this is [ inaudible ] -- >> can i please make a rational comment -- >> olli, go ahead -- >> i didn't finish! >> we have a limited amount of time i want to get everybody in. please. >> this is the most important thing. you crane and [ inaudible ] authorities don't [ inaudible ] russian troops. russian troops are located in crimea. >> okay. olli go. >> can we please have some order. thank you. first of all i think it's important to point out that people forget that although there are 60% of russians in crimea, there is 15% of tatars and 24% of ukrainians, and nobody talks about the u

crimea. crimea is part of the ukraine but it has deep ties to russia. >>> today russian ships and transport planes arrived with unknown cargo and hundreds of troops. ukraine's u.n. ambassador tells the security council heavily armed russian forces have seized crimea's main airport and other government buildings. ukraine's new interior minister calls the situation an invasion. and tonight, there are warnings coming from the white house. >> any violation of ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizes, which is not in the interests of ukraine, russia or europe. >> a little background here. there's been a popular revolution in ukraine but the ousted president insists he is still the legitimate leader. a controversy. he is asking russia to bring order to the chaos. there will be much more on the story tonight on the "cbs evening news" at 5:30. >>> a war brewing in wine country but a bay area businessman decided to fight city hall. the creative way he is skirting a new law. >> dramatic river rescues as the storm pummels southern california. the rush to help people and pets trapped in fast-moving waters. >> stood there and watched them put him in a body bag and zipped it up. >> but then the body bag started kicking. the cr

regional legislature adopted the so-called declaration of independence of the autonomous republic of crimea. crimea an independent state if its residents vote on sunday in favor of joining russia. to ban marked the third in a verse three of that devastating earthquake and six -- japan marked the third anniversary of that devastating earthquake and tsunami. it triggered a nuclear crisis. japan has struggled to rebuild towns and villages and to clean up radiation from the meltdowns at the fukushima to clear power plant. reconstruction lands are finally taking shape. that is a look at the top stories in the news. our focus now to veterans and small-business ownership. a recent survey commissioned -- a recent survey finds that veterans are emerging as major players in the buying of small businesses. group general manager joins me now from our san francisco bureau. thank you for your time. are you surprised by this economic surge that is involving america's vets? why a small business ownership so appealing? >> not surprised by it. it is something we have been waiting for for a long time. largest marketp

crimea on monday. >> the russian he are sure that the referendum is rigged whatever the vote. the russian parliament has already said that they will be receptive to the idea of crimea being annexed into russia. so i would suspect that russia will go ahead with that. the most important thing is not that russia annexes crimea katy, but that russian military occupy all of crimea. crimea is under military occupation. >> secretary kerry was blunt after his meeting with russian fortunate mints sergey lavrov. let's -- foreign minister sergey lavrov. >> until after the frum referendum on sunday. >> lavrov brushed off threats of sanction saying it would be counterproductive. do you think the u.s. and the west will get it together, to impose some sanctions that might actually affect russia? >> yes, i think the sanctions actually will be pretty significant. there's a lot of experience now with iran on sanctions. russia has always been reluctant for sanctions on iran by the international community. for fear that some day, russia would be targeted. and indeed now that's the circumstance for russia. the sanctions will be significant. if russia maintains its occupation in crimea. if as your correspondent said, the russians also go into eastern ukraine, and the russians are pos churd, they have -- postured, they have ma

crimea is ukraine. there is no difference between crimea and ukraine. that any referendum in the coming days to try to wean crimea away from ukraine, make it part of russia or make it an independent nation, if you will, that is unacceptable. it would be a violation of international law. very strong words from the secretary of state. earlier we heard from the president of the united states. he also was very tough on this issue. jim sciutto's here, gloria borger's here. your quick reaction. >> clearly diplomatic path is still his efforts. the reason we have these in place but haven't activated them is because he wants to keep talks alive, leave the possibility for dialogue. they're still leaving that door open for yet another day even as things drag on. he talked about unity within europe. smart question from the italian reporter there, is there unity? clearly there isn't unity otherwise they would have acted. poland, right next to ukraine, called for article iv which a country can do when it feels its security is threatened. countries like poland, they're feeling this just based by their position on the map much m

have a mandate to work in crimea, the last time they tried to enter crimea shots were fired at the border. >> reporter: indeed, a couple of weeks ago now. i was down there in crimea hoping to meet them on the crimea side. the issue was that the militia who were at point would simply not get them there. and the osce observers were unable to force their way through without putting their own lives in danger. the issue whether they have a mandate, that's another issue. discussions concluded friday night and basically there is constructive ambiguity. the mandate is basically to deploy the observers to ukraine. well, russia, which is a member of the osce would organize very strongly that crimea is no longer part of ukraine. so although america, the usa, believes the observers should be allowed to go to crimea, i think there will be tight opposition, very firm opposition from russia to allowing the observers past that border control, and down into the peninsula. >> paul, many thanks, live in kiev. >>> saudi arabian banks are the latest to join financial institutions which are refusing to doing business with sudan. al jazeera reports from the capitol khartoum. >> sudan i

russian bikers on an annual rally down to crimea setting the kind of interest of the russian population into crimea. so, what we've seen on the ground in crimea isn't much of a surprise to any of us that have been watching things over the last 20 years it was a great crisis in ukraine when the claims about crimea and the assertion of the different interests in the population mostly the russian speakers have reasserted themselves. in the 1990s after the soviet union and again after the orange revolution in ukraine in 2004, at various points when they appealed for nato back in 2,008 which is the same time that george made at the same request and ended up in the role between russia and georgia. how crimea however is complicated and i think as we get on with the discussion we should try to bring this out. it is the case of many of the population in crimea of russian speaking, but it's not always the case everyone in the crimean peninsula thinks they should be part of russia. the recent poll that came out of the crimea that was carried out by various ukrainians is just before the russian movement suggested that 41% of the population that particula

crimea made a formal request to become part of russia. nick schifrin is in crimea. he is in the capitol city for us. nick, before we talk about crimea, tell us more about president putins most referendum moves here. >> this is president putin declaring crimea an independent state which paves a way for crimea to become part of russia. and going one step further saying, a pathological unwillingness to acknowledge reality, and that reality is the crimean parliament no matter who thinks or what you think of it, whether it's fair or legal, that vote has passed. the parliament here declaring themselves an independent state. they said they'll adopt the russian rubble. move to moscow, ukrainian banks will leave or have to leave or will be reverted back to ukraine or consumed by a new crimean national bank. the parliament here taking steps to separate from ukraine putin embracing that with the help of 30,000 russian soldiers. and this process is going on regardless of everything that we've just been talking about in the west, in in washington towards sanctions and threats towards putin as he continues to do this. >> nick in simferopol, how a

crimea is that some 80% of theirs comes from mainland ukraine. this reservoir outside simferepol, one of the few local source, and it's looking low. >> crimea does not only get most of its water from mainland ukraine, but the vast majority of electricity comes from there. that means despite the russian take over, crimea is vulnerable to pressure from the government in kiev. this economist doesn't think ukraine will cut vital supplies to crimea because of economic ties to russia. . >> translation: remember, ukraine owes russia money for its gas and depends on it. i do see a problem of participation shortages for farmers in crimea during the summer. >> tourism is crimea's traditional strength, but the beeches look sad these days. in the summer russians with money prefer to fly to the mediterranean or beyond. as for ukrainians, don't expect many to come this year. russia may find taking crimea was the easy part. making it viable is the real challenge. >> there have been street battles between police and protesters in spain's capital. the violence began when demonstrators tried to break through a barrier to get to the headquarters of the popular party. the anti-austerity march drew thousands. we have this report. >> as police move in to clear the square, protesters reacted. a tense end to what had been a

crimea. yes. so what happened is about three weeks ago russian troops initially took over crimea. russian troops were always in crimea, they've been there for a long time. they took it over with the help of pro-russian militias. some ukrainian troops stayed behind, stayed on their bases and several hundred are still holed up in the center of those bases surrounded under siege and there have been negotiations to try and get them to leave. yesterday it appears that these were pro-russian militias in crimea, although some officials say that -- some ukrainian officials say they were russian troops, went in on to a base in crimea where the troops were holed up and opened fire and killed at least one of them. that is part of the ongoing takeover in crimea which is at this stage a fait accompli and the government in moscow has formally annexed crimea. what -- the question is what will happen next. will eastern ukraine be the area that is next and that's why what we saw a short while ago is potentially significant because we have these militiamen who aren't backed up by moscow who are acting apparently on their own authority

understand a russian perspective about the importance of crimea and why there has been such an emphasis on the crimea. >> it's not just the crimea, the whole of ukraine is very important to russia and of course crimea is an important part of that. but you see if you look at the ties, family ties, historic culture, religious, and even economic ties, those two countries so intertwined to try to break those apart russia cannot afford it. >> historically, the simple part we know as schoolchildren the charge of the light brigade and that story about crimea, but it is part of a larger mayo narrative. >> much larger. because crimea was part of russia for 200 years but ukraine 400 years, all of russia started, many ukraine started russia. someone from outside is trying to separate them. russia was thinking eu was trying to separate them. that's what probably start they had crisis. eu invited six former soviet republics including ukraine to sign agreement. break some agreements between ukraine and russia and russia simply could not do that. they did not pick up this fight, fight started from eu and that's too bad. russia offered to be pa

crimea and invading eastern and southern ukraine. ukraine a joint statement today and we have a full screen graphic that reads in part they will not recognize russia's illegal attempt to and next crimea, crimeaan integral part of ukraine and the u.s. will continue to help ukraine confirm sovereignty and territorial integrity and it says the united states government will stand by ukraines and stand by their side. the president has been out and about today the summit proper and the first session this morning has already started but before that the president had a bilateral meeting with kazisistan meeting. >> the meeting was supposed to take place in russia, are they planning to meet or meeting in another place? >> well, that is a good point, coming out of the g 7 meeting that the president called yesterday here in the hague, one of the conclusions was the g 8 was not in sochi, russia and changed it to brussels, belgium and will happen in june, stephanie. >> what about the nuclear security summit and it does deal with important issues of nuclear terrorism, how is this in ukraine effects moscow's role at the nuclear summit? >> well, that is a great point too. vladimir putin is not here, the russ

choice was made we need to take a glimpse into the history of crimea need to understand the value of russia to crimea and the importance of crimea to russia and three scene is. related suit in russian history you have the harrison. it's where the ancient knights prince of legs e-mail it was baptized. at the wheel later adopted christianity which laid the foundation which unites the nations of russia belarus and ukraine are the places good soldiers are. cross crane mia. it was crimea i. mean sevastopol city of legend but it's the seats you have a great historical value of a fortress and it's a place where the russian black sea fleet. crimea is a club and carriage and you know the legendary citizen italian so all of these places a secret service this is symbols of the rushers of force into my ex crimea easy need camilla point of traditions and cultures and that's why looks very similar to russia and know it's knitted see disappeared in crimea russian and ukrainian saying that's a crimean tarts. and we lived on the soil they preserve their culture traditions and face. two point two million people of the crimean chop elation we have