Putin said that the referendum pro-Russia separatists plan to hold about secession of Eastern Ukraine should be postponed.

I don't see anything wrong with adopting a federal structure in Ukraine, offering that and other regions more autonomy. It could result in more democracy, in addition to possibly satisfying the concerns of ethnic Russians in the eastern part.

I speculated some weeks ago that Putin was provoking this second crisis so that, by eventually giving in, he could get the world's attention off the Crimea.