Detailed Instructions: In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.
Problem:Crimean ethnic Tatars protest on the roadside in the settlement of Kok-Asan with a banner reading “No war!” as Russian troops move toward Simferopol on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. 
  
 March 8, 2014 Crimean ethnic Tatars protest on the roadside in the settlement of Kok-Asan with a banner reading “No war!” as Russian troops move toward Simferopol on Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. Denis Sinyakov/European Pressphoto Agency 
  
 Russian troops and pro-Russian militants take up positions around the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, surrounding government buildings and military installations. 
  
 Russian troops and pro-Russian militants take up positions around the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, surrounding government buildings and military installations. 
  
 Russian troops and pro-Russian militants take up positions around the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine, surrounding government buildings and military installations. 
  
 Russian President Vladimir Putin offered a vigorous defense of his country’s intervention in Ukraine, saying Tuesday that the pro-Russian former government in Kiev was illegally overthrown and that the man he regards as Ukraine’s legitimate president asked him for military help. 
  
 But he asserted that the troops wearing unmarked uniforms in Ukraine’s Crimea region are members of local self-defense groups — not Russian forces, as observers on the scene have said. 
  
 In his first public comments about the crisis since President Viktor Yanukovych was deposed Feb. 22, Putin described Ukraine as lawless and suggested that Ukrainians appeared unable to run their own country. He said masked militants were “roaming the streets of Kiev” — even though the Ukrainian capital has remained calm in recent days. 
  
 After days of heightening tension, Putin’s remarks appeared to suggest that Russia could refrain from escalation — if Ukraine gets its house in order. Hours later, Russia proclaimed the successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in Asia, a move unrelated to the crisis but a demonstration to Ukraine and the West of Russia’s military prowess. 
  
 Putin said that so far he has not found it necessary to send troops to Ukraine but that Russia had fortified security at its installations in Crimea, where its Black Sea Fleet is based. He did not mention the Russian troops and naval forces that have surrounded Ukrainian bases and ships in Crimea. 
  
 President Obama and Secretary of State John F. Kerry rejected Putin’s assertions Tuesday, with Kerry charging during a visit to Kiev that “Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further.” 
  
 They said that despite Putin’s claims, it was not true that Russia needs to send in troops to safeguard Russians or Russian speakers in Ukraine from violent reprisals. 
  
 Dismissing Moscow’s purported concerns, Obama said Russia was “seeking through force to exert influence on a neighboring country.” 
  
 Putin, however, accused the United States of engineering Ukraine’s troubles, suggesting that it was using Ukrainians as guinea pigs in some kind of misguided experiment. 
  
 “They sit there across the pond as if in a lab running all kinds of experiments on the rats,” he told a small group of reporters in a nationally televised meeting at his country house outside Moscow. “Why would they do it? No one can explain it.” 
  
 In Kiev, his remarks were greeted with less ferocity than might have been expected. The new government is under enormous pressure from the Russian intervention and from unrest in eastern cities, coupled with a financial crisis. It is treading carefully. As Crimea slipped further into Russian control Tuesday, Ukrainian military units there stood their ground but were careful not to provoke a conflict. 
  
 In Ukraine’s parliament, there was talk of finding a way to give Crimea more autonomy if it agrees to remain a part of Ukraine. The region has scheduled a March 30 referendum on independence or accession to Russia, although Crimea’s new leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said Tuesday that he wants to hold the vote sooner. Kerry, echoing the views of many in Kiev, said Russia had installed Aksyonov in a hurried and rigged selection process last week. 
  
 Oleh Tiahnybok, the head of the nationalist All-Ukrainian Union “Svoboda” party, said, “The Kremlin is attempting to use blackmail to solve its strategic plans. Ukraine should not succumb to it.” 
  
 And Russia’s intervention, he declared, is a failure: “Ukrainians are not running with outstretched arms toward the occupiers.” 
  
 A bloodless confrontation 
  
 It has been, all around, an unusual confrontation. After a week of deadly fighting in the streets of Kiev led to Yanu­kovych’s overthrow, the Russian takeover of Crimea has been swift yet bloodless. The atmosphere in Kiev is hardly that of a capital dealing with an intervention by a powerful neighbor. 
  
 Aksyonov said Tuesday that most of the Ukrainian military forces in Crimea have sworn allegiance to his new regional government. Officials in Kiev said that is not true. 
  
 Young men in Ukrainian self-defense groups said Tuesday that they are ready to take on the Russians but do not need to join the national army to do so. 
  
 In a stately hall that normally houses an association for architects, a militia had stashed construction hard hats and bicycle helmets atop a stairway, ready to be grabbed if things turn violent. The marble floors were lined with mattresses and sleeping bags. 
  
 “I’m ready to fight the Russians,” said Vitaliy Vovk, 24, an event planner and the militia commander. “But I’m hoping there will be no war, that it’s just Putin flexing his muscles.” 
  
 Putin’s defense 
  
 Putin said the whole operation is a friendly one, designed to help out a fraternal nation. But he described Ukraine as deeply troubled, telling his interviewers that corruption and social stratification there are even worse than in Russia. 
  
 “Out there, they are beyond anything we can imagine,” he said. “This revolutionary situation has been brewing for a long time.” 
  
 So it’s understandable why the protesters on the Maidan, Kiev’s Independence Square, wanted an uprising, he said. But they went about it the wrong way, he said, and now Ukraine has swapped one “set of thieves” — Yanukovych’s — for another, a reference to the present government. 
  
 Putin said that if he decides to send in the Russian military, he would have legal grounds to do so. Russia has displayed a letter from the ousted president asking for military help in suppressing the revolt. The current government is illegitimate, Russia contends, because Yanukovych was not properly removed from power in a formal impeachment. 
  
 “What is our biggest concern?” Putin asked. “We see the rampage of reactionary forces, nationalist and anti-Semitic forces going on in certain parts of Ukraine, including Kiev.” 
  
 “We understand what worries the citizens of Ukraine, both Russian and Ukrainian, and the Russian-­speaking population in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine,” he said. “It is this uncontrolled crime that worries them. Therefore, if we see such uncontrolled crime spreading to the eastern regions of the country, and if the people ask us for help, while we already have the official request from the legitimate president, we retain the right to use all available means to protect those people. We believe this would be absolutely legitimate.” 
  
 Yet, the Russian government and the interim Ukrainian government have been in contact. “I’d say that they are quite sluggish, but the first steps have been taken,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said. Consultations have been held on the ministerial level. 
  
 “Ukraine is ready to build a new style of relations with the Russian Federation,” Yatsenyuk said, based on Russia’s respect for Ukraine’s right to determine its own policies. 
  
 Englund reported from Kiev. Carol Morello in Kiev and William Booth in Simferopol, Crimea, contributed to this report. ||||| Presidents Obama and Putin talk about Ukraine 
  
  
  
 The White House released a readout of the hour-long call between U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Here's some of what it said. 
  
  
  
 "President Obama emphasized that Russia’s actions are in violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, which has led us to take several steps in response, in coordination with our European partners. 
  
  
  
 "President Obama indicated that there is a way to resolve the situation diplomatically, which addresses the interests of Russia, the people of Ukraine, and the international community. 
  
  
  
 "As a part of that resolution, the governments of Ukraine and Russia would hold direct talks, facilitated by the international community; international monitors could ensure that the rights of all Ukrainians are protected, including ethnic Russians; Russian forces would return to their bases; and the international community would work together to support the Ukrainian people as they prepare for elections in May." ||||| WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will ask Congress to approve $1 billion in loan guarantees and other assistance to help stabilize the new, pro-Western government in Ukraine, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Tuesday. 
  
 The loans will be part of a larger international aid package coordinated by the U.S. and European allies, and distributed largely through the International Monetary Fund. The money is needed to close a gaping budget hole left when the Ukraine opposition deposed President Viktor Yanukovich and rejected a loan package from Moscow. Experts say the new government needs roughly $20 billion to fill the gap in the current fiscal year. 
  
 In a statement released Tuesday, Lew said the U.S. and its partners will work to “provide as much support as Ukraine needs to restore financial stability and return to economic growth, if the new government implements the necessary reforms.” Obama on Monday said a speedy approval of the deal would send a strong message to Russia, which the U.S. has accused of breaching international law by seizing control of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in the wake of the coup. 
  
 PHOTOS: Crisis in Ukraine 
  
 The first phase of support will be $1 billion in a package of loan guarantees, which will go toward “protecting vulnerable Ukrainian households from the impact of the needed economic adjustment,” Lew said. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have expressed support for the loans, which would require only $200 million of initial investment, according to congressional sources. 
  
 The proposed package will also include advice and consulting from other U.S. agencies to help the new government conduct elections, develop strong media and other civil institutions, fight corruption and recover stolen assets, the White House said in a fact sheet released Tuesday morning. 
  
 The White House also said it hopes to build support for additional funding for the IMF, something Republicans in the House have opposed. Lew said that the backing would help the fund “lend additional resources to Ukraine, while also helping to preserve continued U.S. leadership within this important institution.” 
  
 kathleen.hennessey@latimes.com 
  
 Twitter: @khennessey |||||
Solution:
The White House today promised to back up its support of the new Ukraine government with $1 billion in loan guarantees and aid, reports the Los Angeles Times. It would be part of a bigger package from the IMF, assuming Congress signs off. John Kerry was delivering the specifics in person himself on a visit to Kiev. "The United States will stand by the Ukrainian people," he said, after again belittling Moscow's rationale for moving into Crimea as a sham, reports the Washington Post. President Obama repeated his own criticism of Vladimir Putin while delivering his budget proposal, reports CNN. Moscow is clearly violating international law, Obama asserted. "President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but I don’t think that's fooling anybody." He and Kerry spoke after Putin said that while he wasn't planning military force against Ukraine, he would be justified in doing so.