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Ukraine Crisis

Aired March 01, 2014 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto, in tonight for Don Lemon.

And this is breaking news on CNN: President Obama with a strong warning to Russia from President Obama that what is going on in Ukraine will hurt them in the international community. That warning was not in a faceless statement, President Obama told Russian President Vladimir Putin those words personally in a 90-minute phone call this afternoon from the Oval Office. You're seeing a picture of it going on right there.

This is what prompted that phone call. Russian troops crossing the border they share with Ukraine uninvited, we've seen hundreds of Russian forces on with rifles and in unmarked military vehicles. A according to some sources, there may be many, many more.

But it's all connected to the violent nationwide protest spreading throughout Ukraine. Russian officials claim their citizens and the military interest in that country need protection and indeed are asking for protection.

Jim Acosta, our senior White House correspondent is with me live. Also in Ukrainian capital Kiev, CNN's Ian Lee.

Jim, I'd like to go to you first. We've talked a lot about this phone call from President Obama working the phones, not only to Vladimir Putin, but to the prime minister of Canada, Steven Harper, and President Hollande of France. His message, it appears to be clear. That Russia needs to get out and stay out of Ukraine.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. And the White House just readout the phone call with President Hollande and Prime Minister Harper, within the last hour. And the very key portion of this, because it appears the president lined up some of his closest allies behind his position. The readout from the White House on that phone call saying the leaders, talking about all three leaders, agreed that Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected.

So, it sound likes the president in addition to calling Vladimir Putin is also calling upon its allies to get behind him, Jim. That's very important, but I also want to talk about the tough statement that the White House put out with respect to the president's 90-minute phone call with Vladimir Putin. You can only imagine what that conversation was like.

Well, let me give you a sense of it. Let us put it up on screen, because it tells you exactly the hard position that the president is taking here. It says, "The United States calls on Russia to deescalate tensions by withdrawing its forces back to bases in Crimea and to refrain from any interference elsewhere in Ukraine."

And as we are hearing from the senior White House officials, the White House is now going ahead and making that diplomatic threat that the U.S. is now no longer making preparations for the G-8 summit in Sochi later on in June. So, that is a clear shot to the Russians as to what will be happening next.

But also, the fact that the United States is condemning Russia's military action, considering it a violation of the international law.

And, Jim, the contrast is very striking with respect to the Kremlin's version of this phone call. It talks about President Putin drawing attention to the provocative and the criminal actions of the ultra- nationalist. So, the president of the United States and the president of Russia have two different views on this, and it appears that as these phone conversations were going on, this national security meeting was happening here at the White House, we have exclusive pictures of that, of the Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, all coming into the White House.

And we understand, Jim, from talking to the various officials that Vice President Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry also joined in on that national security meeting via video conference.

So, some very tough talk coming from this White House. It's is clear that they want Russia out of Crimea, and the question now becomes, does Russia respond, and what does the United States do next -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, the president delivering a very tough message and appears building the coalition he needs, Canada, France and other countries to react now.

I want to go now to Ian Lee, Ian Lee who's on Kiev.

Ian, I know there's been a lot of frustration among those protesters, even some of the Ukrainian politicians there, that they have not gotten the backup that they wanted, the support they wanted from the west. Do you think in these phone calls now, the stern messages and the talk of costs for Russia, that they are beginning to hear the kind of support they are looking for?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think they are starting to hear positive signs, but you also have the Ukrainian government here talking tougher about the Russians, and that could be a move to kind of push the west to push them into more diplomatic -- push up their diplomatic efforts, because now you have the Ukrainians for the first time mentioning their military being on high alert, definitely an escalation here in Kiev. And to tell you that the prime minister here talked to his counterparts in Russia, you know, Dmitry Medvedev, who is the Russian prime minister assured him that no military action is going to take place so far.

And I don't know how much reassurance that is for the government here, but their military is on high alert. And also in the Crimea, there is a tense standoff between Russian forces and border patrol forces of the Ukraine, and the naval chief talked to his counterpart in Russia and they were able to deescalate that. But this shows how the tension is rising right now, and the importance for the West to find a diplomatic solution before there is any outbreak of violence, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Thanks very much, Ian Lee. And just a reminder to our viewers, the music that you are hearing in the background, those protests that we were covering in the last few weeks, they are going on and you have the protesters in the squares singing, giving the speeches and holding the Russians and their own government to account.

Thanks to Ian Lee in Kiev.

Now, a short time ago, Russia's President Vladimir Putin got a stern phone call, as we've said, from the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. The subject: Russia's military movements in the Ukraine. The U.N. leader warned Putin to dial back right now on any interference inside that country.

Listen as he describes that call to the Russian president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAN KI-MOON, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL: It is crucial to restore calm, and proceed to immediate de-escalation of the situation. Cool heads must prevail, and dialogue must be the orator in ending this crisis. I appeal to President Putin to urgently engaged in direct dialogue with the authorities in Kiev.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: And senior U.N. correspondent Richard Roth, and our foreign affairs reporter Elise Labott join me now.

If I can, Richard, I'd like to start with you.

This call came after that U.N. Security Council emergency meeting today. There was one path offered in the meeting today, this idea of a more inclusive government. It was mentioned by the U.N. deputy secretary-general, is there talk in that where you are of that as a potential way out of all this?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SR. U.N. CORRESPONDENT: Talk of that and the U.S. Ambassador Power saying that once again pressing the need for international monitors to get on the ground so that there is a true transparent look at what might be happening. The secretary-general and his people will continue their efforts. They have an envoy for Ukraine who they are going to try to get back to the region there. But there are still divisions as we saw in the rather fiery at times open televised security council session, remarks between Ukraine and Russia and several ambassadors said, Ambassador Turchynov of Russia in the closer session did not go along with the several ideas that were suggested to the cool heads in this crisis.

SCIUTTO: Now, Elise, our foreign affairs reporter, you have been in the lead of the reporting on what options are being prepared for the president to make his decision, a range, as you've told us, an economic and diplomatic options, can you describe those to us? What are we talking about here?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, the White House already came out, Jim, with this first diplomatic measure, diplomatic measure, if you will, said it won't take place in the preparatory meetings for the G-8 which is supposed to take place in Sochi later this year. Notably didn't say that it's not participating in the meeting. They're also talking about canceling trade talks. There was actually a delegation from Moscow that was in town this week in Washington, wanting to kind of strengthen economic and trade relations with the U.S.

So, obviously, that would be on hold. But beyond that, what can the U.S. do? Well, I have been told that some of the president's aides and Secretary Kerry's aides, are putting together a range of options, including punitive economic measures. Could they sanction Russian entities, Russian banks that can be involved in anything like this, sort of along the lines and obviously not as fulsome as what you have seen with what they did with Iran?

But it could be something along the lines of that -- there will be some meetings tomorrow at NATO where not only will the ambassadors of all of the NATO members meet, they will be also meeting with, there's also something called NATO Ukraine commission, and they will be meeting, that all sends a very potent diplomatic message of isolation to Russian President Putin.

And then over the next coming days, you will see more diplomatic coordination between the U.S. and the European allies as they try the do both the carrot, and the stick. They try to show president Putin a cost, and that he can have a seat in the table, and help formulate a national unity government which will protect the Russian interests in Ukraine, Jim.

SCIUTTO: And Senator Bob Corker saying on our air a short time ago that the Senate, Congress is preparing economic sanctions as you mentioned against individuals and entities in Russia, which include banks. Those would be painful.

Thanks very much to Elise Labott at State Department, Richard Roth at the U.N.

Coming up next, we take you to Crimea. That's the region right in the middle of this whole crisis, after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SCIUTTO: This is our breaking news on CNN at this hour. Military action overseas. Russian troops, crossing the border, they share with Ukraine. It's in a region called Crimea. Most of the people there are ethnic Russian. They speak Russian and Moscow says they need military protection and asking for it.

Ukraine's leaders have a very different view. They say Russia is playing with the possibility of war and invasion.

A short time ago, I spoke with CNN's Diana Magnay. She is in Crimea's largest city. She told me that so far, despite planes from Ukrainian officials, she has yet to see evidence that Russian troops are in Ukraine already in large numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, and I think we have to be very careful with all of this, even those tanks, we're not entirely sure that they are Russian, and there are significant numbers of unidentifiable gunmen on the streets of the capital hear. They are not wearing any kind of military insignia, but they number in the hundreds as far as I've seen.

Of course, I haven't been down to the naval base in Sevastopol. I don't know if the streets around there are filled with troops also. But it is not as though you have large vehicle movements containing thousands of troops who are patrolling, and crawling the streets off this Crimean region, no.

So, 15,000 troops to me would seem very, very high and in fact, an exaggeration. What I will say is that these troops, despite the fact that they are obviously very keen not to have themselves identified are well-organized, clearly with the military backgrounds, highly efficient, and highly armed.

And I asked one of them where he was from and he said he was from Russia, probably a mistake, because he was a young guy, but that is what he said.

SCIUTTO: Thank you, Diana Magnay.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGNAY: Where are you from?

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTEPRETER: From Russia?

MAGNAY: From Russia? From where in Russia?

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

INTERPRETER: It's not important. MAGNAY: Oh, OK. And when did you come here?

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: And there you have him just as you saw him --

MAGNAY: And clearly --

SCIUTTO: And I noticed that as we talked about before, he's got a magazine in his weapon. You can see the bullets there. This is a scary presence I would imagine for some people on the streets there, and as you say, there are others who are happy to have the presence. They feel that it protects them.

MAGNAY: Well, that is what was surprising today. This is a very ethnically and culturally mixed region. It's not just the ethnic Russians who are in the majority. There are also Ukraine nationals and then the ethnic tartars. Today, there was literally no evidence of anyone other than pro-Russians on the street.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: All right. Diana Magnay in Crimea, in southern Ukraine.

Coming up, it's actually taken months of protest and tension to get to this point in Ukraine, so how did we get here? Coming up, the back story.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

Now, each hour seems to have brought a new development in the Ukraine crisis. It's admittedly difficult to keep up.

So, we wanted for sake of our viewers to slow down, pause, dig down on what led to the point, and why Russia's ties to the Ukraine were so deep, and also why the West, why the U.S. is so interested in and so connected here.

Let's start with this map. Ukraine, just a reminder, is in Europe. This is part of Europe here, and bordering it to the West, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, these are all part of NATO. They are NATO allies that the Europe and the U.S. have defense obligations to. If those countries are threatened, U.S. and NATO forces are required to defend these countries. It shows how close and why you have such an important reaction, such a close attention paid to this, from the U.S. and from our European allies as well.

But let's look inside Ukraine, because you can see the split inside the country, itself. Here's the eastern part of the country. It borders Russia, 75 percent of the population here speaks Russian, and the western part of the country bordering Europe, only 5 percent of this part of the country speaks Russian. They lean towards the West. This is the part of the country that politically supported a closer integration with the E.U., with the European Union. This is a part of the country that did not and in fact, feels nervous. We are hearing this from our own reporters on the ground there, that some of them say they are concerned that they might be attacked, that they are welcoming in fact Russian protection.

Now, let's see how this played out in the most recent election, that elected Viktor Yanukovych, who was until he left the country fled the country in fact, in the last 48 hours. The elected president of the country, when that election took place four years ago, Yulia Tymoshenko, who represented the Europe leading eastern part of the country, won 75 percent, 50 percent to 75 percent of the vote in this part country, Viktor Yanukovych, Russian leading. He won 50 percent to 75 percent of the vote in this part of the country, not even close.

You remember that Yulia Tymoshenko was in prison after that election, the West says, on trumped up charges. He was just released in the last 48 hours again, a leader of that opposition. And what's happening here, it's not just a pull between these two candidates, it's a pull between east and west, between Europe and Russia, and that's what's playing out there, and that's one reason why both Russia, and the West and the U.S. are very interested in the events in this tiny little peninsula here.

Now, there is other news going on around the world that we are following, including China. A Chinese city is in shock after a knife- wielding mob kills more than two dozen people, and now police are searching for a motive. That story is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: We are keeping an eye on developments in Ukraine. But we're also following some other big stories today. And Rosa Flores joins us now with a look at some of those.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, good evening.

Good evening to you at home.

We start with a terrifying attack at a Chinese rail station that killed at least 28 people and injured more than 100 others. Police say a group of armed people with knives stormed a station in southwest China. They say more than 10 attackers were involved. Five were shot to death, and the search is on for the others. Police are calling it a premeditated terrorist attack.

Right now, there is no word on a motive.

In Denver, a massive pileup on the ice-covered freeway. Police now say 104 vehicles slammed into each other today on Interstate 25. One person was killed, 20 others were injured.

Spring is less than three weeks away, but there's still plenty of winter left. In the next few days, we'll see more brutally cold temperatures and heavy snow in parts of the country.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis has the forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: In seemingly a winter that just will not give up, another round of snow and bitterly cold temperatures all of the way from the Midwest, even into the Northeast. I know you are sick of the winter weather, but here we go.

Temperature-wise -- well, this is only half of the story, and just how cold it is going to be, and then you got the snow to have to deal with. So, some of those roads crisscrossing east and west through the Midwest, extending into the Northeast. It's going to be very problematic. Temperatures should be in the 40s and maybe around 50s, and teens and 20s, into the Northeast.

Take a look at Boston, temperatures only in the 20s coming up for Monday and Tuesday, New York City, in the 20s, and you should be around 45 and how much snow? Well, this is what we are expecting. And these are some of the estimates according to the computer models of just how much snow accumulation Kansas City, extending into Springfield, St. Louis and Indianapolis, and then New York City, 4 to 8 by Monday, very dynamic, and we will stay on top of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: And if you are counting, Jim, I know I am, spring begins in 19 days.

SCIUTTO: I am counting as well. Thanks very much, Rosa Flores.

I'm Jim Sciutto. Stay with CNN and CNN.com for the latest on the crisis in Ukraine.

CNN NEWSROOM continues on CNN International, but here in the United States, CNN's spotlight, Matthew McConaughey, begins right after this.