president vladimir putin calls for an emergency meeting at the u.n.coup -- security council , where russia is a permanent member. the president says ukraine destroyed the agreement meant to calm tensions. >> translation: if the criminal misadventures of the kiev clooek are not stopped. the catastrophic happenings cannot be avoided. >> president obama hosted german chancellor angela merkel at the white house. wrestling with ways to turn up the heat on vladimir putin whilst not hurting german's economic ties to russia, trades amounting to $100 billion. >> a word on sanction, i agree with the american president. they are not an end in itself, but combined with an of of diplomatic solutions it's a necessary second component to show that we are serious about our principals. >> it is obvious to the world that the russian-backed groups are not peaceful protesters. they are heavily armed mill tans receiving support from russia. the ukranian government has the right to uphold law and order in its territory. russia needs to use influence so they disarticle and

vladimir putin has effectively been in control of russia for 15 years since 1999. re's a frightening thought. under russia's constitution, putin could be in charge until 2024. in other words, he could serve with president george p. bush or president chelsea clinton. but some u.s. presidents including republicans keep underestimating him. today, president george w. bush who once famously said he had looked into putin's eyes and saw his soul gave a new explanation about him. >> did you misjudge him early or were you trying to open the door? >> i think he changed. of course, presidents should owo open the door and give people a chance except for the despicable tyrants. at that time, it looked like he wanted to be, you know, work with the west. >> president bush reflects our entire foreign policy lead in both parties. they continue to believe bad people can be good people if only we be nice to them. putin has been putin for the entire time he's been around. he was putin in the kgb. he's been putin since he started running the country 99. we have to see him for what he r

oligarchs and vladimir putin - he supports actions. he joined us from london. good to have you with us. let's start with your story. how did you go from being a trusted friend of putin's to being described as his enemy number one. >> i was in russia as a big investor. we discovered corruption in all the companies we invested in. i started exposing the corruption. at first when i exposed the corruption, he seemed approving of it, because i was going after his enemies. it was after he arrested the richest oligarch in russia and put him in gaol that the other oligarched came to him and said "what should we do so we don't get arrest?" and he became the biggest oligarch. but i was no longer his friend, i was inconvenient when i exposed corruption. i was expelled, declared a threat to national security and other terrible things happened after that. >> you said initially vladimir putin seemed like he was bringing back disorder. it changed with the moment, where basically he just got on russians. >> well, he didn't get on the payroll. i think he became the mafia boss. h

putin -- vladimir hasian vladimir putin visited crimea. a militaryattending parade there this friday. grace in italym continues. former prime minister silvio berlusconi has started committee service at alzheimer's home. and another mass rally to try to .ust the government also coming up for you in the next hour on "live from paris" as more troops in venezuela made campsawn raid on protest wereracas, more than 200 arrested. and an update on the fukushima powerplant three years on from the disaster there. but first, russian president vladimir putin has just arrived in crimea, the peninsula which only a few weeks ago voted to break away from ukraine and become a part of russia. ,his is a highly symbolic visit the first time bruton has been in crimea since its annexation. has beenrst time putin in crimea since its annexation. the visit was particularly striking, given the context. listen. >> this is a day marked by patriotism. we all have an acute feeling of what it means to be true to our land and how important it is. >> russian vladimir -- r

is she more of a joan of arc figure, or vladimir putin? will they tell us her true nature? she has been on a mission to really clean up the party image making it seem more normal, not the evil party it has been seen as being under her father's leadership. but she says she has a hard time separating herself from the parties racist words. and dominique -- do you remember him question -- do you remember him? what is life is like after the scandal three years ago. he was once seen as a presidential hopeful but he says he has turned the page on his political life and is focusing on his new career, as a businessman. it does not stop him from having plenty to say about french politics. his opinion of francois hollande is that he is a weak leader without much vision for france. another blast from the past is in vanity fair this week. -- "vanity fair" this week. this is monica lewinsky perhaps the world's most famous intern. she has written a personal essay, it is called "shame and survival." she says it is time to burn the beret and burn the blue dress. this has caused a lot of rea

russian leader vladimir putin calls it chaos and a full scale civil war. reports tonight on the final dangerous. >> it is a deadly run-off to the presidential vote for ukraine. along for billboards for candidates in ukraine's election. pro russian separatists are at the barricades with automatic weapons. at least three pro kiev militia were killed in one fight. 20 yesterday. this aadmit arguments about the future of the region. vladimir putin asserted ukraine is in a civil war but with a lot of proviso could acknowledge a possible vote. >> we want the deescalation to have begun and we will respect the choice of ukrainian people. >> separatists here aren't respecting it. they say elections will not happen in the region. >> no, no, no. >> armed rebels from the donetsk people's republic are carrying off voter rolls. this is the donetsk's people republic. this is not ukraine. it's not ukraine anymore. >> staffers were soon back to work. say they have hidden key documents and expressing determination to carry on. i look at this optimistically. there have been s

the strategy was transparent and vladimir putin shouldn't get away with it. vladimir putin sounded conciliatory, and russia may see signs that they are pulling back from the border. there's no chance that the pro-russian separatists are point? >> i don't think so. it was not the case. remember vladimir putin denied the russian government had anything to do with the stages of the disturbances in crimea. he similarly denied what happened in eastern ukraine. he has not criticised the armed bands of gunmen. he has not put the full weight of the russian state against them or spoken up for law and order in ukraine. he has not spoken up for the territorial integrity, he said twice recently in the last week is that he has the right to protect ethnic russians, and there are ethnic russians in estonia, latvia, moldova, places. his policies are to destabilize the government. he's doing it in an insidious way - not by rolling tanks across the boarder, but by instigating and helping to instigate the disturbances. >> russia has been on a propaganda blitz, they have been st

you have presidents vladimir putin describing the situation is all-out civil war.s about going to change that? rex it is going to be important for ukrainians to go to the news and vote for a president who will have the legitimacy of the ballot box and vladimir putin will know longer be able to dismiss the authorities as illegitimate as he has done so far. it is important that ukrainians are able to have this opportunity. it is taking place amidst extreme violence as you have indicated with ukrainian forces being killed. the problem has been putin, who has stirred up the violence and brought in provocateurs and spent -- sent in special forces. inthought he could get away southern and eastern ukraine when he got away with in crimea. >> why has he said he will recognize the later when his whole operation is derailing the process? >> it has not carried over as he expected it would. surveys have indicated that ukrainians do not support russian invasion. do not support russian takeover. they do not want to be annexed. they do not like the central authorities in kiev but

first confrontational words about president obama by vladimir putin. he was asked by an american reporter what do you say what it's said you don't tell the truth. vladimir putin said who is president obama to judge, he should sit in a court room. more significantly were conciliatory remarks. why did he make them? the may 26th elections on sunday. this is the threshold. the west set a threshold. if russia and vladimir putin are seen as undermining the election, say the g7 and the e.u., harder sanctions will be put in place. that's number one. the g7 meeting coming up, president obama flies to brussels in a week and a half, where some things will be decided, and if russia and putin are seen as interfering with the elections, he could be in for harder sanctions. as we talked about, there's division between the united states and the europeans. they are more reluctant to put the sanctions in place. and vladimir putin - it's not unreasonable to interpret his comments as trying to drive a wedge and encourage those who say go easier on russia. vladimir putin i

that is vladimir putin. he has had strategic control of what is happening there. it is paid mercenaries and also the violence and the intimidation and the fear for the people that live in the row john. >> you mention there was a lot of talk and considerable violence from pro-russian separatists who were not going to allow the election to take place and you are in kiev but what reports have you getting from the eastern part in how effective the separatists have been in disrupting the election in that part of the country? >> unfortunately, we don't have observers there because of the security situation and they have disrupted the elections there but in the rest of ukraine particularly in kiev the polling stations, high turnout, people are waiting, they want to exercise their right to vote and elect a new president and what you see here is actually push back against what has happened with the russian aggression. that is what we are seeing in this part of the country. make no mistake, obviously in the eastern part of ukraine, those elections are being disrupted for ma

this is what vladimir putin said and called for. the reality is if kiev government is not able to prevent the separatists holding a referendum. they are in no condition to issuing strait an election in two weeks time. >> vladimir putin suggested that the votes be postponed. what does russia do if they declare independence and say "okay, we need help from the russian troops to battle the independence." >> vladimir putin is in the driving street. his mote is for -- driving seat. his motives for asking for a postponement is not clear. he doesn't have to do much, he'll acknowledge the results of that referendum, but there's nothing forcing him to act upon it. furthermore, there'll be another referendum on what happiness if self-proclaimed republic decides to seek annexation by russia. i don't think he has a lot he has to do, and he'll play it out over the next couple of weeks. >> does he play it out pending what the government in ukraine and the ukranian army does. if they say "okay, we are not accepting it", does that put pressure on v

side, but what underpins the deal with economics from both sides. >> professor, you've heard vladimir putin talk about a euro-asian union and about looking east. when china looks west towards russia, does it see what putin sees? is there a shared vision here? >> i think so. in fact, that reminds me of something during the cold war. there was two alliances. one is the continental euro asia, china, russia for a while and other continental powers. the other is marine time asia-pacific. in these new things, we see that type of power competition coming back. china and russia are the largest continental powers. they come together. in fact, many people had a lot of suspicions, myself included. these two strange bedfellows would not come together. in the last few years, more than a few years it's amazing to nonobservers. these two countries have come together economically, strategically and also militarily. look at the military exercises these two countries conducted in a few days. not a few days. in fact, there was in the water nearby the disputed china-japanese territory. that means russia is bac

vladimir putin lying to world about pullback of his troops, it is clearer each day that president obamass to block putin a ambitions and devoid of how he might resuscitate, and rouse a moribund nato alliance, president obama does talk,s some sometimes he talks tough, few trumble before his rhetoric, certainly not putin, and our european allies dismiss his assurances. putin sent in his troops and tanks tony have a ukraine, mr. obama was coming to the rescue, you may recall this they treated this picture state department spokeswoman holding a sign that reads, hash tag, united for ukraine. the power of twitter. today in face of demand to do more than send a team of 20 support forces, to help almost 300 kidnapped girls in nigeria, first lady michelle obama took to twitter. frowning concern first lady, started a hash tag bring back our girls campaign. vice president biden tweeting his own similar message moments ago. obama presidency is often effective in its messageing and seizing of public moment but usually moments at a time, they seem to not comprehend that americans and the world expect

meanwhile, 300 miles away, vladimir putin stepped foot in crimea. putin striding around like he just won a super bowl. i guess he already has a ring. our senior international correspondent nick paton walsh joins us now from ukraine. this visit comes on a day already loaded with meaning for russians. >> reporter: certainly. i think people will be deeply troubled because of the overtones of that display we saw. he got on his own private boat and went down a series of russian troops saying to each crew, i congratulate you on our 69th anniversary of our victory in world war ii. remarkable scenes, bombers in the sky. a display of military might. they kept reminding us of the losses inflicted 69 years ago by that obviously horrifying war and comes on a day in which we saw the ukrainian military moving in to a town mariupol so close to the russian border. russian forces are amassed. mariupol is west of where i'm standing. key buildings have changed hands in the past week or so. a very confused picture. we're hearing from the interior military that pro-russ

. >>> rebuffing vladimir putin - ukraine's separatists dismiss the call to postpone a referendum. >>> venezuela's dry spell forces the government to begin rationing water. >>> boko haram fighters are accused of killing as many as 300 people in a town in north-east nigeria. it is on the remote border area, in the same area where 270 school girls were abducted. the united states, france and china joined in the search for the girls. washington says it has no plans to deploy combat troops. al jazeera is the first media outlet to visit the area where the girls were abducted from. >> reporter: a traumatised mother. esther has not come to terms with the abduction of her 15-year-old daughter. she still thinks it's a bad dream. she's one of 270 girls taken by boko haram fighters. more than three weeks on, they remain missing. >> i prefer if they were after my suggestion, they should go into my house, burn my hour, break everything in my house. that would be better for me than taking my daughter. if they take my life at that moment. i satisfied. . >> it is shared by most of the families. life w

and vladimir putin comes in. institutions are being somehow similar institutions are being hampered. civil liberties and all the things that started to happen. i wanted to write about this. i thought about the gulag of the russian mine, how we end up with dictators, we have opportunities and reformers. then i was thinking the first man of the 20th century tried to go forward with democratic changes or humanistic changes and yet he kept coming back to his own despodic past and some of the stalin esque matters, even if he denounced stalin. >> you told a story about your great grandfather and he adopted your mother when your grandfather died. most americans think of him in standard images, in slamming the shoe on the table in the united nations or the cuban missile crisis. you write, as you said about the reforms. that she instituted after stalin's death, that the thaw in the soviet union led to gorbachev and the soviet union. >> absolutely, as much as he wanted to caping, and he wanted to change, he wanted to chang

russian president vladimir putin is leading victory day celebrations in crimea. the country he recently annexed from ukraine. >>> the government has been accused of launching attacks. riek machar is to meet salva kiir in ethiopia for their first face-to-face talks since the conflict began. >> a peaceful demonstration in laos, calling for the return of 270 kidnapped school girls. a team of british experts have arrived and they'll advise the nigeria government on search efforts >>> armed vigilantes in the west of mexico have been fighting drug cartels. they seem to be winning and officials are asking them to lay down the weapons. we look at whether the vigilantes are willing to disarm. >>> slugs, shot, collected and saved, part of an official group. now that the knights templar have largely disappeared, the government is telling the vigilantes to stand down. once registered vigilantes can keep their gun, but starting that saturday they can no longer patrol. they have to be folded into a new police force. >> we are going to keep working as rural police and defense f

right now, vladimir putin is running a country. he's not comforting athletes and professors.ma is running an advice column. >> first of all, russia will never be a power again. they got nuclear weapons, that's it. they pull back from the borders of ukraine. >> what are you talking about? >> he's only 5' 6", they put him on a pillow to be able -- >> watch it, bob. i'm slightly over 5' 6". >> he scored six goals in a hockey game the other day. >> they produce 9 million barrel of oil every day. >> vladimir putin in his desire to become a regional power, maybe not as determined as the chinese, but he decided to partner with the chinese, eric, and do a $70 billion infrastructure project which would take all this siberian oil and sell it to the chinese. >> here's exactly what it means. china for the last 15 years or so has gone out and purchased all these assets, oil and gas assets around the world. for china to now buy this through the major deal with the russians. forget russia. if they ever decide to be angry and, you know, start hating us, we're in big trouble. >> the country a

russian president vladimir putin is calling for a delay in the referendum on autonomy in the ukraine.plan to vote on sunday. mr. putin says the kiev government and pro russian activists should give dialogue a chance. >>> south korean officials have arrested the ceo of last month's tragic accident. he is charged with causing death by negligence. they say excessive cargo contributed to the disaster. 269 people died. the government plans to ban the company from the ferry business. >>> thailand has a new caretaker prime minister. he replaces the prime minister removed because of over use of power. the constitutional court has been closed for security reasons until may 13th. >>> you can now add china and france to the list of nations providing help to nigeria to find hundreds of kidnapped school girls. >> china will provide satellite and intelligence assistance. france is sending agents from its external intelligence agency. this follows offers of assistance from brittain and the united states. while it's unlikely the u.s. will deploy troops it will use drone aircraft to monitor boko haram

russian president vladimir putin expressed support saturday saying he would respect any choice made by the ukrainian people. joining me now from washington is victoria nuland, the assistant secretary of state for european and eurasian affairs. welcome. tell me. there was the election in ukraine. it has enormous importance for ukraine. what does it have for u.s. ukraine wrote -- relations? >> it was a spectacular day for the country to go out in force and to say to their government and to the world that they wanted the future that is democratic, unified, rooted in europe. in terms of the u.s.-russia relations ship, i think time will tell. the president of russia said that you will risk that the result and work with whoever elected. it will be good for russian relations with the rest of the world. time will tell. >> he snatched away crimea. that seems not even in question anymore and there seems to some extent to be a retreat. his popularity has shot up through the roof. he has one on has terms, has he not? >> i don't think it's wise for anyone to get in the head of president putin the g

vladimir putin said that he backs the upcoming elections as a step in the right direction. ou really believe he's going to respect the results of the election? >> i'm not sure. if you watch putin closely what he does in every case is leaves his options open. so for instance, in calling for a delay in this referendum in the donetsk people's republic. he has bought the option to either accept or reject on his timetable. i think he'll wait and see what the situation looks like and decide if the candidate who wins is someone he can work with, or if he thinks he can get more by calling a legitimate election. >> you have seen this violence in eastern ukraine. tell us how you would categorize it. i believe you told your producers it's the essence of modern war fair. >> yeah, the russians have a word for it, which means something like masked war fair. you have [ inaudible ] special forces and russian intelligence agents and you have locals who are exmilitary, and exspecial forces and military contacts all working in concert with a certain portion of the population that is in fact a

and with vladimir putin, he would agree with his idea that russia should be a great country and see a lot of it was self-serving. there's a lot of investigation or conversation of how rich vladimir putin is, and would have despised the whole getting well through changeness. >> an incredible story is he was deposed in 1964. the soviet government was taken over by stalinists who took the soviet union back to where it had been. you were able to go to an elite school. they didn't aust ra cries you and your family after he was deposed, but they eliminated him, there was no rmps to him in -- reference to him in anything that you studied. >> he was there when i went to school in 1954 to 1985. anything was done in the soviet union. it was done by the communist body by the soviet union. >> everything in the soviet union is about the tsar or the soviet leader. what he did allowed for him to be retired. he was the first leader retired in russia. and he didn't die, he wasn't killed, and he was able to do the farming. i continued to go to very elite school, and so that is something that he did. he

right now, prince charles is in some serious hot water after reportedly comparing vladimir putin to adolf hitler. his comments are reviving a longtime argument about whether royals should only be seen and not heard. >>> hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we begin here in washington where president obama says today -- he says today he will allow veteran secretary shinseki to stay in his job at least for now. the retired u.s. army general has been under intense pressure to resign over disturbing rempl lations that some va facilities may have compiled secret patient wait lists. some of those patients died while waiting for care. the white house says it first learned of the allegations from cnn's reporting last month, but is still trying to gather all the facts. >> i know that people are angry and want scriwift reckoning. we have to let the investigators do their job and get to the bottom of what happened. our veterans deserb to know the facts. once we know the facts, i assure you, if there is misconduct, it will be punished. >> our senior investigative correspondent drew grif

russian officials now over those pro russian rebels moving forward with autonomy wrench comes when vladimir putinindicated that he did not want that to happen? >> well, it's really not clear what putin was doing. it was just a few days before this referendum that he made that really unexpected statement and so far the kremlin's been pretty silent about it. i think they -- i don't know what all it means, but certainly it's just two days away now and when it happens, then we'll see what the kremlin says, we'll see what they say in donetsk where they'll have the referendum. kiev will be in totally new territory at that point. >> reporting live from moscow this morning, fred, thank you very much. >> nigeria's president said they will find the kidnapped school girls abducted last month by boko haram. speaking thursday at the world economic forum, he thanks the u.s., britain, france and china for their help in the search effort. the girl may have been slit into smaller groups and taken out of the country. the president says these as i had nappings have become a tipping point to be the beginning of the

vladimir putin is in shanghai for a strategic summit of asian state. they have signed several agreements of cooperation and hold talks on supply in china of 30 years of gas. >> adrian brown has more from beijing. >> reporter: vladimir putin needs a political and economic boost, signing a gas deal with china, providing china with 40 years of gas would give him that. he needs to diversify the gas market. economic sanctions slapped on russia over the crisis in ukraine, and the annexation of crimea are biting into the russian economy. china needs the deal to happen. it needs to lessen its dependence on coal and find energy to boost its economy. the chinese are driving a hard bargain when it comes to price. they know that vladimir putin has difficulties and are using it to get the best deal on china's terms. the two countries signed 49 agreements, but not so far the one that matters the most. >> pakistani military jets bombed taliban tribal regions. 42 were killed in the fights in the north waziristan areas. the crisis in pakistan's television network is a

vladimir putin is always on time. he is the check norris of world leaders. utin time. >> as we wait for more, in the meantime, we will talk about the u.s. economy. housing is still a big concern for the central bank. among the factors cited, higher home prices, construction bottlenecks from the scarcity of labor, and harsher weather and shortage of available lots. joining us is the ceo of the american bankers association and the head of global regulatory affairs at cls bank, former fed governor. gentlemen, let me ask you both right off the top what you think the state of the housing market is right now. is this a temporary pushback because of weather, or is there something more? governor, i'll start with you. >> becky, the economy is soft. the labor market is soft. the reality is that one out of three young people 35 or under is living with their parents. whatever we see now developing in terms of construction is generally multifamily rentals. a trillion dollars in student loan debt. and the regulators are cod phiing. we have a slow housing market. >> what ab

this is a person this vladimir putin can understand and potentially can under-vladimir putin and the people around him. >> what about the people in the east will be accept the role of a man pro-e.u. >> they may or may not. a lot owe their jobs to people like him. the steelworkers work for oligarchs. the workers in his confectionary and chocolate factories, they work for him. they need a condominium, upping with the people -- understanding with, the people, person who is running the country. they are paying their winter games. >> i'm trying to understand - what about petero poroshenko specifically captured the mind and the hearts of many ukrainians, especially if he's an olly gashing. >> he showed up this evening. he showed up with a ukranian wrestler, elected as mayor of kiev, and one of the principal leaders of the rebellion that brought these people to power. i think it's clear that he is aligning himself with the powers that brought about the collapse of the previous government. it's good in the streets in the west, maybe not the east, but he has other strengths. >> wrapping this

and vladimir putin changed. he became, you know, he began to suspend the press. not suspend, eliminate the independent press. >> you think it was tied to the money coming in. >> i think it changed his attitude. i think it emboldened him to follow an instinct that is pretty much zero sum, you know? i win, you lose, and vice versa. i tried to convince him, i'm sure the president has, that we both should win. by both nations doing well, our people do well. it seems like vladimir putin takes a different attitude about such situations. >> there was one more question i could not help but ask the former president today. what does he think about his little brother running for president? his candid answer and some advice for jeb, coming up next. >>> plus, the former governor of florida might need that advice after a new poll shows him trailing another possible 2016 contender, hillary clinton, in his own home state. [paintball noises] the annual company retreat. planned, as usual, by this guy. nature lover... people person. ♪ and you put up with it all... because he also b

tightened up and censorship that has been exhorted is there any conceivable notion in your mind that vladimir putin will go the other direction and liberal lies before he liberalizes before he leaves office or are we not destined for a really bad road for the next decade. >> well, i think as president putin continues on the road that he is on, which is to isolation, isolate his own country and create barriers for particularly younger people to interact with the rest of the world, and to continue on the current economic path he is on, which is to raise, tariff barriers through things like the customs union rather doing what the rest of us are doing which is trying to have free trade agreements and lower them and if he doesn't diversify his economy, he is not going to be able to continue to produce for the russian people. his compact with them in his first term was you leave the politics to me and i will put a chicken in every pot so to speak. i will grow the economy and you will get to go to ikea and ralph to greece envoy addition indication vacation but what he produced in the first term is stagnan

>> it's vladimir putin's moment in the limelight.global business leaders in the international economic forum. it's russia's version. these are live pictures we're looking at now. vladimir putin is speaking right now at that forum. of course it's an opportunity to promote russia to the rest of the world as a place to do business, invest in. tensions with the west over ukraine and resulting eu and u.s. sanctions against moscow have meant around 30 of the world's top bosses have stay add w -- stayed away this year. russia will set up a fund for domestic production. he says russia must diversify exports away from energy. he said the government would provide the funds and long term funding at low rates. nigel is in st. petersburg for the forum. >> america asked business chiefs to stay away. some did. others said they needed to be here to set the risks for this $3 trillion economy. >> there are a lot of companies around which didn't send ceos but sent other members of the board or other senior staff. they're all present. that's the kind of

higher. >> we are going to take a short break, but when we come back we will let you know what vladimir putin had to say about ukrainian elections this weekend. >> putin's pledge is how it is being described. back with more in just one minute. >> welcome back. ukrainians are heading to the polls on sunday, and russia is promising to respect the outcome of the vote. president vladimir putin made that pledge at an investment for him in st. petersburg. >> but he stopped short of declaring the: sunday legitimate. he had sharp words for the united states, accusing them of causing a full-scale civil war in ukraine. >> he says washington could be pressing sanctions against russia to gain an economic advantage over europe. >> president putin's appearance was a forceful display of self-confidence. again, he blamed western powers for the ukraine crisis, which he referred to as a civil war. still, he expressed willingness to cooperate and negotiate with the new leadership. >> i want to underscore that we also want de-escalation. we will respect the choice of the ukrainian people. >> his audience was mad

so, what are you seeing now after vladimir putin's statements?ter: well, there does seem to be this sort of uneasy calm, if one can even categorize it as such. the violence here does tend to come in waves. but following that statement by president putin, cnn spoke to the self-declared chairman of the so-called republic of donetsk, denis pushilin, who said that he was surprised by putin's comments but that they most certainly were valued, would be taken into consideration. they do, of course, respect what moscow has to say and have historically relied on russia for support. the leaders of the pro-russian camp, as far as we understand, now in a meeting discussing, taking a vote as to whether or not that referendum, the creation of a federal state, the vote on that should, in fact, take place on may 11th. the announcement, perhaps, within the next half hour. a couple of issues here, though, john. first of all, the postponement of a referendum might not necessarily ease the growing tensions here. the military efforts by the central ukrainian governme

he also said vladimir putin is receiving all the information on the latest developments in ukraine. putin appears to be following developments closely. they insist they continue to take steps toward escalation of the conflict and work towards the release of the observers held in slaviansk. russia spent the special envoy to the area. he is in the region right now. contact with him has been real established. >> vladimir putin warned of consequences against ukraine for acting against its own citizens. what consequences could flow from today's events? >> that is right. vladimir putin has one of consequences in ukraine. he did not give exact details of what the consequences might entail. the russian foreign ministry said the assault in the region would have catastrophic consequences. all of this talk has made it clear russia may be taking military action in the area. they have 45,000 troops stationed near the border. they have appealed to the separatists for help from russia. so far no military action has been taken yet. >> thank you for updating us from moscow. the u.s. president hosts t

between russia and ukraine, russia now says it is pulling back its troops there, and the president, vladimir putin, says that's because russia wants to create a favorable environment for sunday's presidential election. russia is clearly playing a softer line on ukraine, as it has done for recent weeks. putin says that the election on sunday is a positive step now. now, the key question, though, is what happens monday, after these elections are held? there are still pro-russian gunmen controlling big parts of the east of the country. can these elections be held? will the results be recognized? and crucially, will moscow accept that the winner of this election is the new president of ukraine and will they work with him constructively to overcome the crisis? christine. >> phil black on the phone for us this morning with two very big developments in the russia/ukraine story. thank you, phil. >>> this morning, mcdonald's shareholders are meeting as protesters gather outside. what are they angry about? the story just ahead. >>> all right, almost to the top of the hour. let's get an "early start" on your

. >> you talk that there could be no strategy but before vladimir putin went to crimea on fridaywas a massive display. look at this, russia's military might in now's red square was celebrating the victory square . the victory over nazi germany. it keeps getting bigger, that ge demonstration under, putin. george, is there a strategy hert and is it that putin wants to rebuild russia? a >> sure, he has a strategy and he'su adjusting his tactics as t you do in war.e this week, the president of france and the chancellor germany demanded he pulled back the russian troops. putin has said he he has already done that.portion but there's no proof of that. he can say after two week from today, the presidential election didn'tdi count because there wa so much disorder, but beyond that, he's learning information. what he's learning that europe remains a geographic expression not a political expression and i that he really has nothing to fear from the european union. fm >> so juan, what, if anything, can putin or rather president obama and theob europeans do an whatever they do, wi enough to s

this referendum going ahead despite vladimir putin's call to delay them. you could describe this as a victory lap through crimea boosting russian is a tort in eastern ukraine and other parts of the country. how do you describe the atmosphere where you are now? >> reporter: at this point, quite tense here. everybody is waiting to see if this referendum is going to go ahead and referendum officials insist that it will. in fact, i just spoke to the head of the referendum committee here, and he insists preparations are under way, they are 90% ready, his words, and that he expects a 70% turnout. of course, this is in the context of fighting happening on the streets there. the polling stations, nobody's even quite sure where the polling stations will be, where they can even cast a vote. so it's all very unclear at this point whether or not this referendum is a actually going to be able to take place, even though donetsk, people's republic officials, what they call themselves here is going to take place. the big question, what happens after the referendum? we exp