The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said that he hopes to avoid military action in Ukraine and use diplomacy to resolve the crisis there.<br /><br />Speaking during a televised question and answer session with the Russian people, Putin said that the country's parliament had given him a mandate to use military force in Ukraine.<br /><br />The leader told the audience that the solution to the crisis lay with different political parties within Ukraine and not between Russia and the US.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Peter Sharp reports from Moscow.
