joining me now is steve clemens, editor at large.nk you for joining us. >> good to be with you. >> so if the new york times reporting is correct that the men wearing the uniforms without insignia are in fact russian soldiers, should we see that as a meaningful invasion? >> i think that is absolutely the case. that russia has in a softer sense than a full-scale invasion has invaded ukraine and is there to de-stabilize a government that is already weak. that is attempting to put together elections. and russia, whether it engages in a full-scale invasion or not is sending a signal that russia is in a vise. >> where is putin turning to these tactics where he denies there are soldiers and denies there is evidence that anybody can get there and see it? >> well, i don't think vladimir putin is worried about what the west things. he is playing to a constituency in russia that sees him as a sort of ronald reagan in russia. he is the one establishing russian dignity and power on the stage. he is playing to that community and trying to link up

let's bring in washington editor-at-large, steve clemens and washington post diplomatic correspondent ann gearan. >> good morning. >> colet's talk about the expectations. we will hear from john kerry any minute, but what are the expectations here. >> chris, as you said in the opening, the expectations for some sort of breakthrough among these four players, the united states, the european union, russia and ukraine coming out of this meeting are pretty low. the fact that they were supposed to finish up their meetings more than an hour ago and come out and have press conferences and that those things haven't happened suggest to me that they are trying to agree on what they can say they agreed on because it's always better to come out of a diplomatic meeting with something marginally good to say, but at the bedrock here, russia wants something very different and as an outcome from what the other three members of this diplomatic quartet also wanted. so it would be hard to see exactly what they could say they agreed on. >> vladimir putin spoke on russian tv, steve. he took questions from th