for more on the crisis, let s bring in new york democrat congressman eliot engle, the ranking member on the foreign affairs committee, also a me believe of the congressional ukrainian caucus. we have learned today s the prime minister is coming here to speak with president obama. what do you think precisely is on the agenda? i think it s a very good thing. i think what the united states has to do is show ukraine we stand with them, support them, we re not going to allow putin to treat them this way. i think it s really very important to build up ukraine with closer ties with the united states and ties, ukraine, european union and a good thing. there are now going to be elections in ukraine in a couple of months and i think it s important for the ukrainians to see that the new government there is working very closely with the west and with the united states. symbolically, what do you think it means to have a sbrer imprime minister come to the
government, for instance, is going to ban the russian language, which the government says is completely false. so we ve got military crackdown, media crackdown. it does look like putin s setting the conditions on the ground to get the result that analysts tell us that he wants, which is owning crimea again, just like in the old soviet days. craig? nbc s jim maceda, jim, thanks. i want to bring in ohio congresswoman marcy captor. the congresswoman is a co-chair of the congressional ukrainian caucus. congresswoman, you know this region very well. what s your take, first of all, just initially to what you just heard, the latest from our man on the ground there in moscow about what s happening in the crimean region and what s your take on what president putin is trying to do here in ukraine and can he succeed? well, it s a great tragedy. it s a great tragedy for the free world. it s a great tragedy for ukraine and sadly shows us that the russian bear is on the loose again.
discussing ukraine with nato members in brussels. and tamron, amongst this swirl of activity, you ve got russia and the west s end games, which are beginning to emerge. on the one hand, washington and berlin are pushing a plan agreed to by western foreign ministers today in paris that would include international observers, direct talks between moscow and kiev and new elections in may. the russians, on the other hand, want to see a return of viktor yanukovych, they call him the legitimate president, he would have new elections, not in may, but december. there s a big gulf between the two sides, but at least, tamron, they are talking again. back to you. absolutely, thank you very much, jim maceda. now let me bring in new york congressman elliiot engel, he s also a member of the congressional ukrainian caucus. sir, thank you so much for your time. thank you. i know defense secretary chuck hagel was at a house