faith with the people of ukraine? >> i cannot speak to how a former georgian president comes to his conclusion. i would simply say that i think this congress has been enormously generous and responsive to the administration's request including going above and beyond in some cases the requests that we have made including in the category of the european reassurance initiative where we have more money for ukraine than we asked for. what we have been trying to do both through the loan guarantee program and through the bilateral assistance i outlined in some detail is to try to support the implementation of these very tough reforms the ukrainians are making and we will continue to do that. we have fielded a huge number of technical advisors into the ministries to help them with the drafting of legislation and the implementation. on the security assistance side, the numbers are significant compared to previous support for ukraine. as under secretary mckeon said we want to see it move faster. >> i believe this question is mo

intelligence sharing with ukraine keeps ukraine in the dark. satellite images are delayed and obscured, making them less useful. frustrated, ukraine is approaching other countries like canada to share such information. this is not u.s. leadership. moscow is also undermining ukraine's economy. today, russia is using his natural gas and other energy sources for political corrosion and to generate economic chaos in the country. ukraine is facing an economic precipice. it desperately needs help. meanwhile, russia is winning the battle on the airwaves and they are doing it by broadcasting out conspiracy theories and propaganda. anyone who is monitored is well aware that this propaganda is offensive, is aimed at sewing confusing to its aggression in ukraine and elsewhere. we are barely in the game of countering this. as i told the secretary last week, i would like to see more administration support for the effort mr. angle and i have undertaken. the broadcasting board of governors is broken. if we cannot begin to change minds, the struggle over ukrai

on ukraine. it is constantly being probed by the kremlin. that is the best line to empower ukraine. first and foremost on the economic side, where it has been a combination of our strong transatlantic support, our strong transatlantic contributes of that have made the 17.5 billion dollar package that we have now on offer for ukraine possible now without that, it would not of been in the four to five rounds of sanctions we had done. if the u.s. had done those unilaterally, we would've had a situation where european companies would have come in and backfilled. if we do not match what europe was willing to do, the opposite would of been true. or you could've seen efforts to drive a wedge between us. we do believe that particularly in september and in december the kremlin underestimated our unity and our ability to work together. it is not always as quick as we would like because we have 29 countries to coordinate, 34 if you include our other allies in nato, but it does make us really strong in defen

more recently, we lord ukraine -- lord ukraine -- leured we train -- ukraine west. we put further pressure on russia. that is a blight on it u.s. policy. the conflict in eastern ukraine was started by a russian act mercenary involved with thousands of russian military personnel's. there have been 6000 deaths and 1.5 million refugees. for two weeks after the cease-fire agreement was signed on february 12, the rebels continued their offensive activities acquiring a railway have. -- hub. the determination to acquire that hub shows that vladimir putin has no intention of honoring the cease-fire. while the violence has subsided a, it is far from a success. in addition to the ambiguous conditions required by ukraine to regain control of its orders, it is burdened by the first agreement as it stands. administration officials have repeatedly referred to the recent accord as an implementation agreement of the first accord. jumping from cease-fire to cease-fire and hope to convince rebels is not a strategy. it is not a strategy for success. in my view, any strategy will not b

with ukraine dates back to 1992. during this period, the united states provided ukraine with military training professional education, communications equipment and support for border control and counterproliferation efforts. unfortunately the corruption of the regime starved the armed forces of resources. the neglect of the armed forces by the regime did not strip the military of its professionalism or its determination to fight. since the beginning of the crisis, the united states has increased its security assistance to ukraine. we have committed, as you know $118 million in material and training assistance to the military, and national guard and border guard service. under eri, we will dedicate at least another $120 million including $45 million for state department security assistance programs. our assistance has been consistent with identified ukrainian needs and priorities and vetted by our country team and flag level commission that continues to assess how to maximize the effect and impact of our assistance. k

ukraine? >> i cannot speak to how a former georgian president comes to his conclusion. i would simply say that i think this congress has been enormously generous and responsive, including going above and beyond in some cases, the requests we have made. we have more money for ukraine then we asked for. what we have been trying to do both through the loan guarantee program and through the bilateral assistance i outlined in some detail is to try to support the implementation of these very tough reforms the ukrainians are making and we will continue to do that. we have fielded a huge number of technical advisors into the ministries to help them with the drafting of legislation and the implementation. on the security assistance side, the numbers are significant compared to previous support for ukraine. as under secretary mckeon said we want to see it move faster. >> i believe this question is more appropriate to mr. mckeon. you mentioned in your comments ap articles, german ambassador president oba

it isn't just ukraine. it is the question of all of the agreements that have been broken, all of the solemn commitments and quite frankly, a lot of the ease with which we've lived in the last 25 years has led to an expectation this will continue forever. we have to realize this is a political problem that is of enormous significance and that will only be solved when we come to a political solution. and that so far as i can see, is the moment, if not, on the horizon. so we better think very hard if only because we will have lost an enormous amount of effort and we may in the process destroy the economy of both ukraine and russia after we have spent 25 years trying to bring them into the community of nations. >> so this gentleman here on the aisle please. then we'll go over there. >> i came with the students from the elliott school. i want to bring it back to the points the lady from george mason had, sustainability and reform of progress in the nation. the e.u. and us, kind of as nato and european union as a

, crimea and eastern he ukraine -- eastern ukraine has suffered a reign of terror. crimea remains under eu legal annexation and human rights abuses are the norm, not the exception. this includes tartar's, ukrainians who will not give up passports, and lgbt citizens. russia and its separatist puppets have unleashed unspeakable violence and pillaged hundreds of heavy weapons and troops. a commercial airliner was shot down. the airport was obliterated. ukrainian pilot languishes in a moscow jail on date to of her hunger strike. as of the minsk cease-fire lines, cells of separatist six days after the cease-fire was signed. 1.7 million ukrainians have been forced out of their homes and over 6000 have lost their lives. the united states and the eu have worked to impose successive rounds of tough anxious including deep sectoral sanctions on russia and its separatist and cronies as the cost for these actions. those sanctions are biting deeply on the russian economy. our unity with europe and ukraine remains the cornerstone of our policy towards this crisis and a fundamental

in eastern ukraine. today the conflict in the east has resulted in over 6,000 deaths, at least 15,000 wounded, and more than one million displaced persons. this carnage is the work of the separatist forces controlled by moscow. which has supplied them with massive amounts of weapons and has even sent in russian military forces in combat supporting roles. as assistant secretary victoria newland testified before the foreign affairs committee this month russia, quote, has thousands and thousands, end quote of soldiers orping in ukraine. as she summed up quote,s that manufactured conflict controlleded by the kremlin, fwiled russian tanks and heavy weapons, financed at russian taxpayers' expense, end quote. mr. speaker, the administration's response to this crisis has been tepid at best. six months ago, the president of the ukraine stood in this very chamber and while thanking the united states for our assistance so far asked for defensive weapons to enable ukraine to defend itself against superior forces. po

our topic today is ukraine under siege. and ukraine is under siege by russia at this moment. unfortunately, the response to russia's aggression by the administration has been quite tepid. a year ago, russia invaded and seized crimea. and some thought that vladimir putin would stop there. not so. last april we led a delegation to ukraine. we travel to the russian speaking east. i think we had eight members on the delegation. we went into town on the border. and i have to share with the members here that the many ukrainians that -- and these are russians begin ukrainians -- wanted to be ukrainians. they did not want to be separatists. we spoke to the women's groups there, to the boilers groups, civil society, the jewish group various ethnic minorities, the governor, the mayor. mr. engle spoke at the largest jewish community center in eastern europe. the largest synagogue. and i can just share with the members here what allen will attest to. the attitude was -- one of the thoughts shared with us was that it seems russia has recruited every skinhead in the russian speaking world,

all along the cease-fire line in ukraine. we have to see full, unfettered access to the whole zone for osc imam force and have to see a full pullback of all heavy weapons as stipulated in the agreement. if fully implemented, these steps will bring peace to eastern ukraine for the first time in almost a year. and they will also allow for the implementation of the follow on steps of minsk, namely access for ukraine to its citizens in the east so they can begin a political dialogue and they can begin real work with their own population and eventually so we can see that international border closed. as we have long said, the united states will start to roll back sanctions on russia when the minsk agreements are fully implemented and so will our european partners. as the president has also said, we will judge russia by its actions, no its words. we have already begun this week intensive consultations with our european partners on further sanctions pressure should russia continue fueling the fire in the east of ukraine or other part

ukraine is part of eastern ukraine, not only. is part of russian civilitionation. what does it mean. they speak the same language they worship the same religion. they are intermarried. for example, all of europe viewers will know who gorbachev was, his mother and wife was ukranian. is he a russian or ukranian? >> that's a good question. pacman gobbles up the dots that don't want to be gobble the up. these n.a.t.o. countries willingly destroyed. >> you want to have that discussion do you? >> they chose an imperial power to join. >> the official position of n.a.t.o. and russia is any country that qualifies - ukraine doesn't qualify - it doesn't meet the specifications. >> that's correct. >> any country that qualifies can be a member. no, it can't. nato is a security organization not a sorority. a country joins n.a.t.o. if it increases that country's security and your security. are you going to tell me looking at what happened the worst international crisis is the cuban crisis the possibility of a war between the united states and russia that n.a.t.o. expansion increa

ukraine? >> i cannot speak to how a former georgian president comes to his conclusion. i would simply say that i think this congress has been an enormously generous and responsive, including going above and beyond in some cases, the requests we have made. we have more money for ukraine then we asked for. what we have been trying to do both through the loan guarantee program and through the bilateral assistance i outlined in some detail is to try to support the implementation of these very tough reforms the ukrainians are making and we will continue to do that. we have fielded a huge number of technical advisors into the ministries to help them with the drafting of legislation and the implementation. on the security assistance side, the numbers are significant compared to previous support for ukraine. as under secretary mckeon said, we want to see it move faster. >> i believe this question is more appropriate to mr. mckeon. you mentioned in your comments ap articles, german ambassador president

he's doing in the ukraine. his ambitions go beyond ukraine. he sees the counterintelligence offer from estonia on the day the nato summit ended. he called kazakhstan an artificial state. there are ethnic russians in all these countries. if we don't stand up to mr. putin in ukraine we may face him in estonia people argue that our providing webs to ukraine would only get mr. putin to escalate. may be right. we hope it would deter him but if he escalate he is has more russian casualties as steve mention head has a problem at home with russian casualties in ukraine. if he escalates he takes more casualties he'll have less military force to go into new ventures. we have to demonstrate to mr. putin by sanction which is steve did not discuss and by providing arms to ukraine that, in fact, there's a heavy price to pay for his aggression. >> i'll take that extra minute on that rebuttal. >> i'll reck that you have an extra minute. if you guys behave as well, we'll be very efficient. >> we'll work on it. steve and john, we share your anxious and your fru

ukraine is central to our effort. with your permission with your permission i would like to focus on three areas. first on the hard work that ukraine is doing to build a more democratic, independent country. secondly opportunity that russia has to implement the february and september missed agreements as well as the further cost to the united states and our european allies. finally, i we will touch briefly on three other knew threats to european security we are working on energy vulnerability, corruption and propaganda. the ukraine conflict brings into high relief. a quick reminder of why we are here. fourteen months ago ukraine erupted in peaceful protest by ordinary ukrainians fed up with the sleazy corrupt regime bent on cheating its people. they braved frigid temperatures, brutal beatings beatings, and sniper bullets. ultimately the leader fled the country and was voted out by parliament and ukraine began to forge a knew nation. i want to take a small opportunity to highlight the hard work that you are counterpart

if the violent sweeps across ukraine, if ukraine breaks apart, falls, etc., i personally don't think the effort to gobble countries will end there. ms. frankel: and what -- you said before the president has -- is taking our considerations as to whether to give weapons to ukraine. what are the considerations? ambassador nuland: without getting into it in too detailed a way in this setting, just to say, again, that we are giving a significant amount of nonlethal security support, defensive weapons to the ukrainians. the issue is whether to increase the lethality. the issue is the kinds of systems. on the one hand, it goes to the ukrainian need and desire to defend against the incredibly lethal offensive things that russia has put in since january, february on the other side -- on the other side it actually goes to whether it goes to harden or whether it escalates and is considered provocative and makes it worse. ms. frankel: thank you. thank you, mr. chair. mr. royce: thank you. let's see. i'm going to yield the chair here to mr. tom emmer of minneapolis, minnesota. why don't you go ah

troops in ukraine. the russian president has sent his condolences, but for tens of thousands of people, it is a day of mourning for one of the leaders of the opposition killed on the eve of one of the country's biggest demonstrations in recent memory. ryan chilcote, bloomberg, moscow. guy: mr. chilcote has now traveled from moscow to eastern ukraine where he joins us now from on the phone. let's take you back to moscow. let's talk about this demonstration. was it a demonstration of opposition? was it a demonstration of remembrance? can you give us a sense of what it was like to be there? how big was it? ryan: is a very good question. it was the biggest demo in three years. the police say there were 20,000 people there. the protesters say they were about 50,000. that's a good number. there were a lot of people that wouldn't normally show up at a demonstration like this. i think a lot of the people were there simply to pay their respects. when people say maybe this will galvanize the opposition, which has

that russia is fueling the war in eastern ukraine. and while the violence there is stopped for now after two months of especially intense fighting the scars are very apparent among civilians on the ground. from rebel controlled horlivka, paul brennan has our report. >> for two-year-old oxana and her sister, home is this place in horlivka. >> it's really difficult all the children are scared as soon as they hear the slightest sound or noise it's frightening for adults so just imagine how the children feel. >> reporter: as the fighting raged the hospital was caught in a cross fire. a third of the children's treatment rooms were rendered unusable by scrap knell. >> 90% of the children have problems with their speech stammering and stuttering. when adults are frightened the children get frightened as well. >> the currently pause in the fighting hasn't stopped the flow of injured and ill arriving here. it's just shifted the emphasis. as the guns fall silent the attention of the medical staff here is now switching more to post-conflict issu

the war in eastern ukraine has claimed many victims including the economy. >> ukraine's currency is on a race to the bottom, teetering on the brink of collapse. now in another drastic attempt the central bank has raised interest rates by 30%. >> signs of a sick economy and hints of how bad it could still get if the war continues. >> it may look peaceful in many parts of ukraine, but the conflict in the east is felt everywhere directly and indirectly. the cost of living is soaring. hyperinflation is looming, and the national currency is in virtual freefall, having lost nearly half its value against the dollar. in a dramatic push to prevent the economy from crashing, the central bank has jacked up its benchmark interest rate hoping to prevent further deposit runs after three banks recently folded. the trouble began in 2013 when ukrainian economy logged a zero growth. last year, the economy contracted seven point 5%. a further contraction of 5.5% this year. but it's unclear what could help drive a turnaround. the country's industry has all but collapsed and is unable to compete. the gover

they would draw a bright red line in ukraine, stop hooton in ukraine before he moves beyond ukraine. to date, western policy has been slow. and reactive. all too concerned about giving mr. putin a graceful way out of the crisis not focused on imposing costs that would make it too expensive for him to continue his aggression. we had a panel for the first two hours of this session, but they were all too reflective of slow, reactive approaches. to persuade mr. putin to put aside his revisionist dreams, we need to do things that pile on his weaknesses. strong sanctions are part of it. we have to do with the economy. we must persuade mr. putin that by announcing strong additional sanctions for aggression -- i think it was senator rubio who said, why can't we tell mr. putin now what sanctions we would put down if you moves beyond the currencies fire? he asked a very good question. we have to have sanctions in place for if he moves again. that way, it may deter him, but if it doesn't, it will clearly weaken his economy, his political support, and fewer sources for his next aggression. i giv

putin in ukraine, making sure he doesn't go beyond ukraine. again, this is a vital american interest. >> thank you both for outstanding testimony and i'm going to defer questions at this moment to senator menendez. >> thank you, chairman and thank you both for your service at other times. always great to welcome a fellow tennessean. we have a great tennessean here is your chairman and we should all be very proud of him. i think you've laid out a pretty compelling case, probably done it better than i've been successful at trying to do in terms of the importance of it. you spent time in kiev as our ambassador, had a lot of time to observe president putin's behavior towards his neighbors. i think you largely already referred to his intentions but would you expect, for example, if unchecked, russian forces to move into mariupol? >> mr. putin cannot expect a frozen conflict. then ukraine could develop as a stable democratic prosperous state and that's what he's against. that's the most likely target but not the only one. he could move further into

russia is still in eastern ukraine. and they have over a long period provided substantial support for the separatists. we ask russia to withdraw all forces from eastern ukraine and respect the agreement. >>> joo dwindling supplies of methadone means addicts are not getting adequate supply to clean up. an upsurge in the sharing of needles has led to an increase in hiv infections. ukraine is the worst country affected by hiv/aids in europe. the world health organization says more than 3,500 died in ukraine of aids in 2013. >> reporter: it's a nearly daily ritual, every morning but sunday, he makes the rounds distributing needles wipes and condoms to the heroin addicts. and since the conflict in separatist eastern ukraine there are more than ever. they are running out of drug it uses to get addicts off heroin. >> they promiseed to look after us ask now they have reduced so quickly vihad i have had a fever the past month. we can't afford it, we have no money. there is war. >> reporter: ukraine's government has provided the

. >> george soros speaks to bloomberg and he tells what ukraine's future is. >> if ukraine flourishes, that will tell the russian people that russia's problems are due to putin's policies. >> ukraine's finance minister says the war-torn country needs for more financial support. >> draghi versus the data. the release of pmi figures. caroline: the german chancellor angela merkel tells tsipras to stay the course. but our words and encouragement enough? life to berlin. -- live to berlin. ryan: welcome to "countdown. we go live with the regulatory burdens. what does it mean for the banks? chinese economy is showing further signs of a slowdown with manufacturing discipline falling to and from 11 month low. that has sent chinese stocks tumbling. shery ahn joins us with the latest from hong kong. shery: the reading came in as a bit of a surprise because economists had expected it to become a above 50, showing a slight expansion in manufacturing activity but instead it came in at 49.2. that is down from february. the index is weighted more heavily toward smaller companies. analysts say if the

. >> they are accused of causing conflict in eastern ukraine. penalties have been placed on a russian bank and the u.s. will deliver humvees and drones to ukraine. >>> reports of drug use on the rise. and the sharing of needles has led to the increase of hiv infections. ukraine is already the worst infected of hiv in europe. 150,000 people ages 15 to 49 are infected. john hedron reports from donetsk. >> it's a nearly daily ritual. every morning but sunday bruce will make the rounds distributing needles, antibacterial wipes and con domescondoms. donetsk is running out of the drugs that they use to help get people off heroin. >> they reduced doses so quickly that i've had a fever for the past month. even if we can find it we can't afford it. we have no money. there is war. >> ukraine's government has long supplied the drugs for heroin substitution therapy but in separatist territory that up a stopped. they use two drugs in heroin treatment, and as substitutions run out heroin use rises and since heroin users tend to share needles, so will hiv. >>

hundreds of thousands have lost their lives and then there is the crisis in ukraine and here i urge the council, look at the facts. do not allow yourselves to be misled. in crimea and the separatist controlled areas of eastern ukraine, men, women and children are being killed. they are being tortured and being raped and sexually assaulted, detained arbitrarily and abducked for ransom and forced into labor and persecuted and prosecutor because of who they are and who they worship and that is what is happening and it's up to the hrc to shed light on it and to help to hold accountable those who violate those human rights. the bottom line is tattoo many people and too many places are facing unbearable realities. we cannot accept that. we all of us collectively and we do not accept that and this counsel working with governments across the globe can help to create a future that is much brighter than the present or the past. i believe it is fair to say that we are already making historic progress gains and i'm proud to say that since 2009 the united states has been privileged to join with many

>> kerry said interesting and provocative things on ukraine syria and israel. in the case of israel, he went out of his way to talk about this clearly trying to anticipate netanyahu's speech before congress tomorrow, and apparently the obama administration is trying to portray itself as a true friend of israel, and therefore is going to stand up to criticism before the human rights council. now, the truth is that the human rights council does focus excessively on israel. 's right there. but john kerry would have a lot more credibility if the u.s. government did not have such a blind spot for israel. if you look at this summer's conflict in gaza on israel repeatedly committing war crimes by targeting the family homes of hamas commanders. completely illegitimate target, but they repeatedly hit those. towards the end of the war they knocked down these huge apartment buildings extensively because there was the office of hopples. but clearly disproportionate target. they used explosives with wide area fact in populated areas something that they stopped doing and the

ukraine despite the truce between the government and the pro-russian separatists. john hendren reports. >> as daly daily rifle fire breaks the silence of the ceasefire,. >> we are breaking on a razor's edge. >> provoking a new enslawt. >> in this issue ukraine is culpable. lead the situation to explode in an instant. >> reporter: do you have reason to believe that that might happen? >> translator: yes certainly. it hasn't just happened once or twice over six months. we've had many civilian casualties. >> reporter: so all it would take is for one more mortar to land here in the separatist area of donetsk than a launch of assault. they too expect an assault and they are convinced it is prowrgs separatists who will launch it. are -- pro-russian separatists who will launch it. each side accuses the other of violating the ceasefire and the ban on heavy weapons. but both seem to agree that it is rebel forces seen here training this week, the rebels say they want the ceasefire the ceasefire to hold. the u.s. intelligence force create a land bridge from russia to crimea, a

it was ready for action in ukraine on july 17, 2014. robbie has discovered traces of a missile attack on the wreckage. >> you will see in the pictures impact holes. you could see the impact was an explosion. >> who brought down the plane? russians, pro-russian separatists or ukrainians? it has become a propaganda war. eva should experts say there only has been a halfhearted attempt at an official investigation. >> i don't imagine the culprits will be caught. but he once these revelations to further agitate political conflict, which is already threatening europe. >> that would be another cruel blow for others who lost loved ones. >> we were in the middle of things you never knew existed. you never think about having peace for years. then you're in the middle of a big war. your children are more victims. >> a few weeks ago celine fredericks received a package from ukraine. found half a year after the crash. it was a bitter reminder. >> dutch authorities say the investigation is likely to take the rest of the year. all kinds of conspiracy

in geneva has released on human rm terms in ukraine. barnaby phillips, al jazeera geneva. >> both ukraine and the rebels say they are acting in line with the agreement made last month in minsk. john hendren has more from donetsk. >> the machinery of war keeps rolling through a fragile ceasefire. the silence is broken daily by the sound of small arms fire and mortars. that's ours he says. >> translator: in principal the ceasefire is holding but there's regular small arms fire so complete ceasefire can't exist. before you arrived here several small shells landed on our side. before we fired back there were grenade launchers firing on us. >> reporter: as occasional volleys continue to violate the ceasefire, separatists say it is ukrainian forces who are violating the ceasefire. >> we are not just trying, we are upholding it completely. the firing yesterday started to open fire. >> a year a into the conflict in eastern ukraine the death toll continues to rise, on a landscape transformed by the war. and with each passing day the front line c

was the crisis in ukraine. >> what is concerning about ukraine is the russian federation has taken a 10 backward from its international commitments by violating the sovereignty of a neighbor. and that raises concerns as to whether they will sustain their commitments against the use of helps of mass destruction. >> reporter: but this could be nato's biggest concern. i.s.i.l. fighters taking over more territory in syria and iraq and spreading the ideology in the muslim world. the international military alliance says it's determined otake on i.s.i.l. a coalition led by the u.s., how important regional partners including qatar which has set up the committee for the prevention of weapons. the first body in the region responsible for ensuring chemical materials do not fall into the wrong hands. >> translator: we play a significant role in international peace and security. in 2004 we created the convention of the prevention of chemical weapons. we have reached a stage where we train neighboring countries. >> a divisive issue here in the middle east, iran is negotiating a deal with the inter

they say they will deliver humvees and drones to ukraine. let's go to fred who is in moscow for us. >> it is a symbolic political statement by the americans i think they're still interested in putting the screws to russia, keeping the pressure on even though the europeans seem to have lost their appetite for nor sanctionsfor for more sanctions for the time being as long as the minsk agreement is in place. there may an rift widening between the united states and europe over the efficacy of putting sanctions on russia. but this particular list of sanctions probably won't make a difference at all. >> frosty relations in one of russia's most significant fishing ports. the embargo on imported seafood has sent prices soaring in the arctic and that has left buyers and suppliers struggling. >> a statue of a young woman watches the port's cold waters, waiting for her fisherman to return. this is the largest city inside the arctic circle. it helps support a large fishing industry with an international history. but since these pictures were filmed two

turn to that region after ukraine. >> yes. it is an informal meeting of e.u. foreign ministers. clearly the situation is at the top of the agenda. security concerns for other member states over the european union and nato, which is good for baltic republics are also very high on the list. the region itself has a large number of russian minority people in both -- latvia as well. there are concerns that similar activities could take place on their territory that began the conflict in ukraine. so there is nervousness, russia so far as dismissed all of these concerns but nevertheless nato and the e.u. are taking it quite seriously. >> thank you. tony hall pin in moscow today. >> in the u.k., rever knew and customs tpwhrouth more than 1 billion pounds from challenging the pricing of internal deals conducted last year at multinational companies at amazon, starbucks and google. the price charged on transaxes within different parts of the same company. people were asked to pick up to three of the most important issues they and their f

, ukraine was there. it was a nuclear stay at that time. we signed the doctrine saying that we would respective borders and its independence. so did russia, by the way. but, in russia, when the soviet union fell apart, the power -- the kgb, the foreign intelligence service, the interior ministry, armed services, they never fell apart. they struggle through. on top of that was the thin veneer of elections. underneath that was corruption and the power ministers. it may have looks like it was going to become a capitalist country, and certainly a lot of people made a lot of money out of it, and the comments party at least so far as marxism and let leninism passed away. but the 19th century view of europe as about a persistent. western europeans do not see it that way. they see countries as opportunities for economic growth, trade, commercial relationships. they do not see eastern europe as a chessboard to be fought over. but, the power ministries inside russia do see it that way. and they have ever since the

stop putin and ukraine before he moves beyond ukraine. to date western policy has been slow reactive and all too concerned about giving mr. putin a graceful way out of the crisis. and not sufficiently focused on imposing costs that would make it too expensive for him to continue his aggression. we had a very distinguished panel in the first two hours of the session, but they were all too reflective of slow approach. to persuade mr. put ton put aside his revisionist dreams we need to do things that play on his weaknesses. strong sanctions are part of this. we have to deal with mr. putin's economy. we must persuade mr. putin that by announcing strong additional sanctions for aggression to come, i think it was senator rubio who said, why can't we tell mr. putin now, what sanctions we will play down if he moves beyond the current cease-fire line. he asked a very good question. we need to have sanctions in place now if he moves again. that way it may deter him, but if it doesn't, if will clearly weaken his economy weaken his political support

he said, we have to recognize russia has an interest in the ukraine and a history in the ukraine. how do you recognize that in terms of the solution of the future of the ukraine? is it that they choose where to go? or do you do more to tailor your impact and create a circumstance so that that element of russia-ukraine will be stabilized? bill: russians don't get to make ukraine's sovereign choices no more than we do. i think you have clearly seen an interest in ukraine in some sort of association with the european union and they see that as offering a lot of economic opportunity. charlie: and in doing that, do they give the back of the hand to russia? bill: not necessarily. without being pollyanna-ish about it, and recent circumstances make it hard to think in these terms. it is entirely conceivable that ukraine that has more of a connection to the eu can be of benefit to russia as well. economic connections will be very important. it is not impossible to find that kind of balance. a lot of that sense has been lost in the crisis over the last year. charlie: it must be frustrating

and one of the challenges i think we face around the management of the ukraine crisis is that ukraine is not a nato country and while we want to show clear support for the ukrainians in their struggle to defend their sovereignty, we must be always cheer that there is an air gap between the kind of support that we can offer to ukraine as a non-nato country and the kind of support that we would and should offer to a nato member if it faced the similar kind of challenge. >> we're coming up to general election, and after march the 30th the house of commons is dissolved. and there is a convention about parliamentary approval for military action, sh which has seemed to develop over recent years with regard to syria with regard to iraq. with if a crisis develops in the period after march the 30th and before a new government is formed whenever that is, it could be several months, how are we going to hand that will situation if there is a case of clear interception of united kingdom alongside nato partners or even unilaterally in terms of defense interests? >> well the convention that's grown

see and still is he strong russian support in eastern ukraine. we see the equipment forces training russia is still in eastern ukraine. they have over a long period provided substantial support for the separatist. >> the u.s. has imposed sanctions on eight pro-russian separatists who are accused of causing conflict in eastern ukraine. washington also said it would deliver humvees and drones to ukraine. we have more on this from fred weir. >> it is mostly a symbolic political statement by the americans' message. they're still interested in putting the screws to russia, keeping the pressure on even though the europeans seem to have lost their appetite for more sanctions at least for the time being as long as the minsk cease-fire is in place. the idea is that a rift widening between the united states and europe over the efficacy of the sanctions on russia. but this particular list of sanctions probably won't make a difference at all. >> the peace process in colombia that is been given a past with the president announcing a one- one-month halt in air

from ukraine. the president has kept us off the ground. >> i think fundamentally president obama's goal is not intervene any more than he desperately has 20679 the president's noninterventionist approach gets no cheers in many republican. >> i think he's incredible naive. i think president obama is dangerously knee eve. >> our friends no longer trust us. and our enemies no longer near us. -- fear he is. >> reporter: they are also getting hammered from the left for its use of drone strikes to targeting killings and expanded cia power overseas. >> when i came here last time i mentioned -- >> the american people are speaking out secretary kerry. we are tiredless of the endless war. >> the committee will be in order. >> reporter: the president says he takes a pragmatic approach to america's international role. >> the goal of any good foreign policy is having a vision and aspirations and ideals but also recognizing the world as it is, where it is, and figuring out how to you tack to the point where thin

call the old ukraine that was to be the opposite all the old ukraine but in the old ukraine is there. francine: the west becomes tougher or the west continues as it is what happens if the west continues as it is? ? how bad is it going to get george soros: one is ukraine collapses. this is putin's sort of objective goal to have a financial collapse, political infighting, and he can then step back and say, i didn't cause it i am a good boy. lift the sanctions and that is what he hopes for. jonathan: we are pleased by francine lacqua who brought us the exclusive concert -- conversation with george soros. i really liked the fact making an example of russia by making sure ukraine succeeds. what is your take? francine: he is feisty and is passionate about ukraine. he is trying to spur the international community, the west to try to be proactive. i asked him how do you become more proactive and he said it is a show of unity. it is difficult for europe and the west to show unity because of greece. he linked the 2 and is passionate about ukraine. it is just unfair. jonathan: you talk about ot