Still have the capacity to enter in to negotiations and try to arrive at the political accommodations that mr. putin himself says he wants to see. he has the most control over that situation. so far, at least, he has not exercised it. barack obama russia is denying involvement in the jet s downing. we are live with more. how do russians explain that it looks like a surface-to-air missile took down a civilian airliner over eastern ukraine? what are they saying about all of this? they are saying the missile, the buk missile defense system must have been a ukrainian system. anatoly outlined a list of ten questions he wants to see kiev answer. first of which is why has the finger been pointed at the self defense groups. self defense groups is the way
Operate their weapons in self-defense. michael holmes is there. reporter: armed and uniformed men enter a building at a ukrainian military facility in the crimean capital. the aftermath of what appears to be the first shooting incident of this crisis. there have been standoffs at ukrainian military bases all around crimea for the past two weeks. most have been uneventful, but today at this base, gunfire erupted. an ambulance arrives amid reports of injuries while local so-called self-defense groups guard the gates outside. this man on the phone with his daughter said her husband was wounded in the incident after armed and masked men burst on to the base, breaking windows and telling staff to lay on the ground. it s not clear how or why the shooting began. pro ukrainian sources said the attackers fired first.
Ukraine s crimean peninsula are not actually russians at all but instead members of local self-defense groups. that came as a surprise to many people with eyes and/or ears because they sure look like russian troops firing warning shots at hundreds of ukrainian soldiers attempting to reenter an air base on crimea that the russians have seized. so far this is the only known instance of shots fired between the two groups, but there are forces such as these in the streets of crimea s regional capital patrolling with no identification. today the administration said that the u.s. cannot yet prove that these forces are russian. it s pretty clear that they re russian troops. i think it s clear, but general dempsey, what evidence do we have. we don t have any evidence as yet. i think evidence could likely become available over time. just as an fyi, several of those troops have told reporters that they are russian.
Economically and move toward the fair and free elections that are currently scheduled to take place in may. there have been some reports that president putin is pausing for a moment and reflecting on what s happened. earlier today, the kremlin reported putin ordered tens of thousands of russian troops participating in military exercises to return to their bases. moscow has denied the military exercises were linked to the situation in the ukraine, so it s unclear if putins move was an attempt to deescalate the situation. putin won t take responsibility, putin repeated the claim that troops spotted in ukraine wearing unmarked uniforms are not russian forces but local self-defense groups. putin said, russian russia reserves right to use all means nose protect russian in the ukraine and military force would be a last resort. putin also warned that, western
well, there is i think a collective leadership. the speaker has been elected. and by the ukrainian constitution. and ukraine just adopted a return to its 2004 constitution where the presidential powers are limited. in the absence of a president the speaker fulfills the role of the president as the acting president until elections which are to be convened within 60 to 90 days and they will be on may 25th. so there is an orderly transition. there is not a full consolidation of authority. but the interesting thing is there is no serious challenge to authority. there are a lot of people who have been part of these protests and self-defense groups protecting protesters from government violence who are, you know, patrolling streets and working in some places with the local police, in some places the police have disappeared because they were part of the repressive mechanism, but basically there s no one systematically capable of challenging the people in power. and certainly the military is on board. the security service has a new leader.
And self-defense groups protecting protesters from government violence who are, you know, patrolling streets and working in some places with the local police, in some places the police have disappeared because they were part of the repressive mechanism, but basically there s no one systematically capable of challenging the people in power. and certainly the military is on board. the security service has a new leader. there s a new minister of the interior. he has purged all the intermediate people who were associated with the violence. and a new chain of command is being put together. so it is a little bit of a, you know, transitional and bumpy ride. but they are well on the path after such a turbulent period and the collapse of an entire system which had ruled as a very authoritarian and tightly controlled system. we re moving toward the consolidation of power of these people. and i think one thing i want to point out is that yes, western europe and europe and the united states have recognized the orderly transition of power. i think it s very important for
Street. there s lots of people going down there. they re bringing, you know, more food, more supplies, there s more guys signing up to join these barricade self-defense groups. their feeling is that today want yang coe slip to step down. that s it. today think this agreement mean they think this agreement means nothing to them, and they re not leaving anytime soon. martha: what about on the other side? how have the police reacted, how have the government forces reacted to this? are they showing signs of backing down? reporter: well, at this point it s, we re unclear on that. i mean, they whether or not if violence happens again, it s still to be determined if some of the police may say because the parliament today passed a sort of referendum or a memorandum that says stop in this anti-terrorism operation that s been going on so that they, the police, can t use guns. but, you know, they could get orders otherwise.
Recently, the largely tutsi rwandan backed m-23 has been active in the area around goma. but the mostly huto is also here. they can also refer to self-defense groups or specifically entities. some groups like the frpi are principally defending a stake in a resource like gold and others are mainly interested in fighting with a particular enemy. in their case, they have a beef with the fdlr. lots of other organizations controlling territory who haven t come up with a name or a cool acronym yet. this is only a fraction of the rebel groups in a single area of the congo. be advised, this map was hopelessly outdated before we even got here. it s all these variables kind of knotted into one big mess. these are the reasons why media has a difficult time, why the western world doesn t hear much about congo, because how can you sum it up in a three-minute report? but for us, goma is just a stopover on the way to the congo river.
Here. they can also refer to self-defense groups or specifically entities. like apcls. some groups like the frpi are principally defending a stake in a resource like gold and others are mainly interested in fighting with a particular enemy. in their case, they have a beef with the fdlr. lots of other organizations controlling territory who haven t come up with a name or a cool acronym yet. this is only a fraction of the rebel groups in a single area of the congo. be advised, this map was hopelessly outdated before we even got here. it s all these variables kind of knotted into one big mess. these are the reasons why media has a difficult time, why the western world doesn t hear much about congo, because how can you sum it up in a three-minute report? but for us, goma is just a stopover on the way to the congo river. so we need to keep moving.
goma in the 50s, tourists used to come from as far as rhodesia up here to vacation. amazing life. i remember in my childhood seeing lions just alongside the road. goma was a choice place for some time. they re not coming anymore? no. no? you re saying no? it s a red zone. it s looking like there won t be house-to-house fighting or artillery or mortars or anything dropping into goma. was today a good day? we have a rebel group just ten kilometers north of us, and maybe seven other rebel groups that are all caught in the blender. so. things change quickly in the congo. confused yet? virtually all of the eastern part of the country is being contested by rebel groups some local and others allegedly acting on behalf of interests based in neighboring countries. recently, the largely tutsi rwandan backed m-23 has been active in the area around goma. but the mostly huto is also here. they can also refer to self-defense groups or