biden, what is your basic message to these leaders? i m so happy to be here and use this time to have this message. first of all, just being strong enough to keep peace, that s it. i know it s very important to use some sanction and to talk about unite usa and europe block putin on something like that. but first of all, just be strong enough to keep peace. because we have woar, we have dangerous situation, not just about crimea, not about ukraine, not about europe, i think putin s propaganda everywhere. we have it about information, disinformation, it s about lies, it s about conflict which does
he s inside crimea. how tense is this situation right now in this i don t know if you can get a good sense of how many people you ve been speaking to want crimea to be part of russia, how many want it to be part of ukraine? well, i ve been speaking to a lot of people at protests, and obviously, they re all very pro-russian, but i ve actually been getting messages over the last couple of days from people who have been watching some of my stories to let me know that they don t want to take russian citizenship and they re very wore ed about what s going to happen. there s a large population of crimean tatars here. that s a pro-western group. they don t want to be part of russia. they make up 15% of the population. a woman we spoke to earlier today almost broke down in tears when she was telling us about how afraid she was of this becoming a part of russia. looks like there s been some big shifts under way.
[ speaking foreign language ] so tell me a little bit about the ability to get access to report on what s going on, simon? well, it s kind of a wild goose chase half of the time. you are just cruising around the peninsula and trying to confirm rumors that you ve heard that the russians are doing this here and that there and you get to places, you never know what the situation s going to be like because you might get somewhere and be able to get through or it might be blockaded by a group of cossacks and protesters. you never know what you will find. it s kind of the luck of the draw. that s kind of why we re following this convoy right now because we want to see where it s going and you ll be able to find out where it s going
ukraine across into the crimean peninsula. they d been knocked back talking about some quite aggressive responses from the masked gunmen who met them there. they were more hopeful today. they said they were more determined. they were going to go in and see if they could, you know, realize their mandates and report on the security situation inside crimea. take a look at our journey. reporter: on the road to the center of the ukrainian crisis. the international monitors sent to report on the military build-up here. try to make their way to crimea. we gained exclusive access to their convoy as it crossed from the mainland. all right. well, we re following these coaches here, which are carrying the 43 members of the unarmed osc military mission towards crimea. the last time they tried to get into the peninsula, they had a very hostile reception. one of the military offices on board there told me that the
russia. and for monitors to come in and address the concerns on the ground. you wrote this, and i ll put it up on the screen. you wrote referring to the russian federation, we don t have to agree, but we should talk about hard truths. this should not be a forum where we disrespect each other by peddling a big lie. what is the big lie they re peddling? the big lie is that there is some enormously terrible situation on the ground, particularly for ethnic russians, particularly in the crimean region of ukraine. the high commissioner for national minorities of the organization for security and cooperation in europe was on the ground this past week. she saw no evidence of that. the only reports of the various things that the russian federation is using to justify its illegal action come from the russian federation s own organs or press organs. there are no independent reports that corroborate any of the