ukraine now estimates 30,000 russian troops occupy this crimean peninsula. also happening right now, u.s. guided missile destroyer steaming toward naval maneuvers planned before the crisis erupted. at the border, 43 unarmed observers from europe turned away a second day in a row. the camouflaged gunmen said they had orders not to let anyone through the checkpoint. and the russian president, vladimir putin, was back in sochi, russia, today, for the opening ceremony of the paralympic games. ukraine team chose to compete, despite this crisis at home. william cohen, republican senator from maine, former defense secretary, here with me right now. mr. secretary, thanks very much for coming in. good to be with you, wolf. is there a peaceful resolution that will allow crima to remain part of the sovereign
and brushing asides warnings from the west. the crisis in ukraine it is causing. jennifer griffin has more from the pentagon. the pentagon is watching closely reports that armed troops sympathetic to russia just stormed the gates of the main air defense command centerrer in sevastopol. the pentagon estimates there are 20,000 russian troops in crima, i m told there will be no change to u.s. military posture, however. the f-15 fighter jets sent to the baltics were to reassure nato allies. the pentagon does not want to escalate or give putin a pretext to invade elsewhere. the pentagon s big concern is not the number of russian troops, it s their actions. it s less important the number than it is what they re doing. u.s. defense officials tell me that as of this morning, russia was poised for a large
took over crimea, and leave ukraine and become part of russia. that this first time russia has taken territory since world war ii, since the end of world war ii and the cold war when all of eastern europe fell under russia. so this would be a huge and historic change and that s one of the reasons why even the british and germans who have been slow, they re alarmed now, too. could be a domino because there oar areas of eastern ukraine that have the same sentiment as many of those in crima. thank you a, chris. we ll watch you this weekend. the program, talk about the crisis here in ukrainian with robert gates. chris will also sit down with the kentucky senator rand paul. one of the potential 2016 presidential contenders who has spoken at the cpac meeting this
that s the reason why we urge russian government not to support those who claim separatism in ukraine. crima was, is and will be an integral part of ukraine. what can you tell us about this intended vote? after the revolution in kiev, pro-russian government stormed the local crimean parliament, took control, only letting pro-russian members of that parl whoimt fired the local government set up a new government, declare their intention to hold a referendum in late may on the question of independence. today they ve locked in a date. it is now just over a week away on march 16th. and independence doesn t even get a mention. there are two questions that will be asked. your in favor of crimea becoming a member of the russian federation or would you prefer
ated q from his requently leadership in russia, he said the brake up of the soviet union was a tragedy. and he wants to re-establish russia. and ukraine is the biggest prize and that s what he is after. the occupation of crima is a step in that direction and shoes how putin will negotiate with the interim government on ukraine. what can the u.s. do about what is happening? i think that there is very little we can do. i am favor of economic sanctions and expelling russia from the g8. and have a un security vote on this. and this failure didn t occur yesterday or the day before it occurred for the last five years