Speaking from the White House press briefing room shortly before 11amET, President Obama announced he is authorizing sanctions against Russian officials over this weekend’s Crimea vote.

“As I told President Putin yesterday, the referendum in Crimea was a clear violation of Ukrainian constitutions and international law and it will not be recognized by the international community,” Obama said. “Today I am announcing a series of measures that will continue to increase the cost on Russia and those responsible for what is happening in Ukraine.”

The broadcast networks offered special reports, with Matt Lauer anchoring for NBC News, Josh Elliott for ABC News and Charlie Rose and Norah O’Donnell for CBS News. Fox News, CNN and MSNBC also had coverage of the President’s remarks, with Bill Hemmer anchoring on FNC, Wolf Blitzer anchoring on CNN and Chris Jansing anchoring on MSNBC.