Page 90 - Republics News Today

Described as a county with a puppet regime and had no historical right to exist. steve rosenberg has sent this report. russias parliament, rubber—stamping the kremlins plan. to send troops and the rebel republics of the eastern ukraine. they voted a unanimous yes. then from the president what sounded like an ultimatum. translation: ukraine should demilitarised. _ an ultimatum. translation: ukraine should demilitarised. ukraine - an ultimatum. translation: ukraine should demilitarised. ukraine ...

We see unfolding there. president putin is adamant that he had no choice but to go in to ukraine to protect russian speaking people living in those self—declared peoples republics of luhansk and donetsk, from what he describes as ukrainian aggression. so this is a very complicated set of events that we are seeing unfolding. moscow determined to make sure that people here in russia look at the story from one very particular side, and it is a side which you dont see on the ground there in ukrain...

Recognized this. what do i mean by that, michael? i mean that his idea, his goal was to persuade ukraine to accept donetsk and luhansk as republics of ukraine. vladimir putin now recognized t this. >> im curious, in the short to medium term, lets just say the short term, do you think hes going to stay put? or do you think as sam kiley was saying, he is going to slice off more and more little by little when the world is not paying as much attention a few months from now? >> absolutely. absolutely...

Themselves. where i am standing in the donbas because both those breakaway republics and putin claim that the territory they have not yet taken is also part of those independent republics so what you may soon see is putin claiming a justification for moving russian troops into ukrainian territory right where im standing which is ukrainian territory. erin. >> reporter: absolutely. thank you very much. and of course this all coming as theres been cyber attacks in this country again today. we now h...

-- it made in 1994 to convince ukraine to give back 1400 nuclear weapons that were left on its territory when the soviet union fell apart. and all of the agreements instance including one made several weeks ago with united states and other nuclear states, promising that a nuclear war cannot be won and therefore must never be fought. and here we are a month later with president putin saying, i am prepared to ease these nuclear weapons or do not get involved in my backyard. >> in terms of what he ...

Prompted international outrage — with a promise of sanctions by the eu — and germany halting approval of a key pipeline designed to export gas from russia. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. is this the start of things to come? a column of unidentified military vehicles moving into donetsk, just hours after vladimir putin signed a decree ordering russian forces to the region. a region that the west says is part of ukraine, a region that the russian leader claims is made up o...

Which may be coming. >> yeah. you know, it was striking before he gave that speech, there was that televised meeting with -- with putin ostensibly asking advisers their opinions on this. and then literally, a few hours late, he is giving the lengthry speech and signing the order, which sort of smacks that he already decided on this. is that your feeling? >> this is all very much staged. that security council meeting and then the speech. and then, what do you know? the leaders of the so-called tw...

Artillery shell after shell at ukrainians and them sayingngng cant respond because they see it as provocation. >> its a downside as an option for vladimir putin. if he chooses to recognize the republics and put peace keepers in there. theres a risk russian troops come under fire. and russia would be forced into having to respond in some way. is this an escalation step? the first of many. or is this it. and if it is it, it is certainly a lesser response from moscow. theres talk of whether or not ...

Couple of days does seem to be getting critical, with these warnings by the leaders of the two so—called peoples republics down there for civilians to be evacuated. and of course, what they are arguing is is that they are fearing an attack by ukraine, the russian people down there. and you would think, what an earth would ukraine be thinking to launch an attack against pro—russian separatists when 60% of land forces of russia are pointing in their direction. it would be suicidal so theres no...

Forces of an attack. now, leaders in separatist controlled eastern ukraine are urging civilians to evacuate russia, claiming ukrainian forces are claiming an attack, something ukraine has consistently denied and there is no evidence of. joining me now is cnns national security editor nick payton walsh again. lets talk a little about putins options here as hes got everybody poised around the borders. what might -- what are his options? >> it is important he doesnt have to do anything. the notio...