Free Thinking News's video: Kerry says Russia May Be Hit with Sanctions - EU and US trying to Strategize Solution for Ukraine

Kerry says Russia May Be Hit with Sanctions - EU and US trying to Strategize Solution for Ukraine MOSCOW — With Kiev's new government weak and in disarray, Russia has made an aggressive move into Crimea following a unanimous vote by Russia's upper house of parliament Saturday, which gave President Vladimir Putin a green light to send troops to Ukraine without specifying where. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is warning Russia that a continued military intervention will mean war between the neighboring countries; acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said he put the country's armed forces on combat alert following Saturday's vote, during which Russian legislators also asked Putin to withdraw Moscow's ambassador to Washington. Russian legislators said they were insulted by U.S. President Barack Obama's statement on Ukraine Friday, in which Obama said the U.S. is "deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine."Obama went on to say there would be "costs for any military intervention in Ukraine." The White House says Obama held a 90 minute phone conversation with Putin Saturday, in which he expressed deep concern for what the United States calls a clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and international law. Obama administration officials also say the United States is suspending participation in meetings to prepare for the G8 economic summit later this year in Sochi, Russia, which recently hosted the Winter Olympic Games. According to Russian news agencies, Putin told the U.S. president that Moscow reserves the right to protect Russian speakers if there is violence in Crimea or eastern Ukraine.On Saturday, Ukraine's deposed president, Viktor Yanukovych, and Sergei Aksenov, Crimea's new prime minister, appealed for Russian troops to enter Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Aksenov's Russia Unity Party won only three parliament seats in regional elections in 2010, and won no seats in Ukraine's 2012 national elections. Story continues after video: Elizabeth Arrott, on the ground in Simferopol. On Thursday, armed Russian-speaking men invaded Crimea's parliament. At gunpoint, a slim majority elected Aksenov. Saturday's vote by Russia's parliament triggered an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, during which Yuriy Sergeyev, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations, said15,000 Russian troops are already in Crimea and that their numbers are "increasing every hour." Sergeyev said his country has called upon the world deliberative body to do everything possible to stop what he called the aggression. He told reporters after the meeting that Kiev is willing to work with Moscow about its concerns, but must pull back its troops. "We are ready for consultations, but what we demand is all the troops to be withdrawn; immediately withdrawn, because they are illegally present there," he said. Russia earlier rejected bilateral talks with Ukraine's new government. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Western governments were trying to "whip up" the situation in Ukraine over preceding months, encouraging protesters who were angry about the previous government's decision not to sign an association agreement with the European Union. On Russian troops, Churkin told the council that President Putin had asked parliament for the possibility of the use of force in Ukraine, but that Putin has not yet acted on its approval. Moscow has not confirmed new troop deployments, saying only that current movements are in conformity with existing bilateral agreements to protect its naval base at Sevastopol in Crimea. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in taped remarks after speaking with Putin by phone Saturday that "cool heads must prevail and dialogue must be the only tool in ending this crisis," while Security Council members officially called for de-escalation of tensions and international mediation to end the crisis. NATO announced Saturday that its ambassadors will meet Sunday in Brussels to discuss the escalating crisis. A meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission is scheduled as well. In Moscow, political analyst Pavel Felgenhauer says Moscow is following a political strategy that worked well in the Soviet era. "This is from the Russian textbook — there is nothing new at all," he said, referring to Soviet-era invasions. "It happened in Afghanistan. It happened in Hungary."