ukraine. russian troops surround ukrainian military facilitators in crimea. the ukrainian prime minister calls it a declaration of war. secretary of state john kerry issues a new warning to russia next on pbs "newshour weekend." >> pbs "newshour weekend" is made possible by louis b. and louise coleman. judy and josh westin. the walloch family, rosalynn p. walter. corporate finding provided by

mutual of america designing customized individual retirement. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support is provided by -- and by public broadcasting and contributions from pbs viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch studios linc center in new york hari sreenivasan. >> thank you for joining us. international crisis surrounding ukraine benefitsified with many experts describing the situation as the greatest threat to east-west relations since the cold war. russian troops invade territory of crimea in the last hours today surrounded ukrainian mirlts. the prime minister of ukraine said that action brought the neighboring companies within what he described as a few inches of war.

>> this is the red alert. this is not the threat, this is the actually the declaration of war to my country. >> after putting his troops on lie aler to stand by. secretary kerry described the russian invasion as a violation of international law and warned that the united states and its allies would punish russia economically if it does not reverse course. >> every single one of them are prepared to go to the hilt in order to isolate russia whereas to this invasion. they are prepared to put sanctions in place. they are prepared to isolate russia economically. >> in brussels, belgium, at an emergency meeting, nato secretary-general described the situation as dangerous and called on russia to pull back its troops. >> what russia is doing now in

ukraine violates the principles of the united nations charter. it threatens peace and security in europe. >> according to published reports president obama spoke today with western allies and the kremlin said russian president putin confirmed by phone what german chancellor angela merkel. for more on the ground, two reports from british partners itn. the first from crimea. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the priest approached with a cross. the russian troops that arrived overnight, they were lined up on the hill where ukrainian forces normally train. come here, he cried, so they came forward hoping for blessing. what an extraordinary sight. an orthodox priest blessing the

troops. it's happening just in a field outside. it's not as it seems, the priest is praying for peace, for russian troops to stand down, not to occupy his village. >> we, the wives and mothers, who protect our sons and fathers serving in the military, we pray for our ukrainian soldiers during military service. if they are peacekeepers why did they come armed. >> reporter: they were heavily armed to take up position around the ukrainian marine base. what looked like russian special forces, no insignia but carrying weapons with silencers start at the gate. the ukrainian flag still flew. the ukrainian marines presumably trapped inside. to local people it was

bewildering. >> russian military guys come and try to rule us. >> are you happy about that? >> no, i'm not happy about that. i'm really not happy about it. >> reporter: russian troops were everywhere. and at the end of the street, a group of stony faced ukrainian consulate ordered by their commanders to stand their ground in another part of the base. their orders from kiev are to fight. but that's pretty difficult, because these ukrainian marines have always worked alongside russians. it's very hard to start fighting them now. officers from the two sides are negotiating. >> translator: fight is a strong word. we are ready to defend our facilities and supplies and to protect our units. i hope we can find a compromise and decisions will be taken to prevent war.

>> reporter: two women decided to take on a man who comes bearing a russian flag. you're not from around here, they said. take your flag back where you came from and shove it. people we met said they affiliate crimea, ukrainian and russian, they saw no need for conflict. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: where they come to conquer there is no god. where there is evil, there noise god. god is love. these people are not coming in peace, so there can be no god. >> russians are here. in this one crimean village they are praying now that the soldiers have come this far, they will go no further prrlt. >> itn on the ground in the capital city. >> reporter: for three months they ecapital.

they do so again. they face a more potent threat, one the defense team would be unable to propel. >> i want to fight for my country. i want to fight for my people. >> we don't need occupation. we don't need war. >> reporter: the fear of a full scale russian invasion runs through this nation from the ordinary citizens right up to those who are readying their military for war while desperatede desperately seeking peace. press conferences, words spoken leaves no one in doubt of the jeopardy ukraine is in. how big do you feel the threat is from russia and what's your message to vladimir putin. >> this is not the threat. this is actually the declaration of war to my country. we urge president putin to pull back his military. if president putin wants to be

the president who started the war between two neighboring and friendly countries, between ukraine and russia, so he has this target, we are on the brink of the disaster. >> that is why young ukrainians receiving orders. >> hope that the situation is -- will be known. but ready to save my country. >> reporter: many sought to save their country in recent month and paid with their lives. now after turmoil of revolution, ukrainians live under shadow of war. they have their own sense of defense. they would be tested but no solution. ism tb news, kiev.

what's driving vladimir putin's thinking of all this? what's the russian perspective? for more, professor emeritus at princeton university. thanks for joining us. putin just raised the stakes a significant amount. why? >> we hear the american view, putin is imperialist soviet leader, trying to recreate the soviet union. he's something fundamentally different. he came to power 14 years ago and inherited a collapsed state. remember the russians may have collapsed twice in 20th century, 1917 and 1991. putin's mission is to restore russian stability, greatness at home. that includes to secure russia's traditional, historical security zones around russia. first and foremost, that is ukraine. what putin did when he mobilized

his forces was to say to the united steurope, you are crossing my red line, and i have no choice. politically at home, given the pro russian forces and sentiments in eastern and southern ukraine bordering russia, i don't see he had a choice. now has he a choice what does he do next, but that will depend. >> so what are the options for the u.s. here? >> zero. zero. unless we want to go to war. putin holds all the cards, for better or for worse. he holds the military cards because it's his territory. he holds political cards because a very large part of ukraine supports putin, not the west. he holds economic cards because ukraine is part of the russian economy. legally, you'll have to ask a lawyer, there is a question whether the russians are right. is the government in kiev, which overthrew ten days ago the constitutional order in kiev and

threw out the elected president. is it a legitimate government? putin says it's legitimate. we haven't recognized it yet but he says legitimate. oni don't know what a lawyer would say. >> are we following the path in 2008, russia and georgia, where this escalated into an all-out war for a few days. >> there is a similarity. in the sense that, too, is a red line, the former soviet republic of georgia. there's something else there. first of all, it was of much lesser importance to russia than ukraine, because of its location and its size. secondly, even though we always say that russia, putin invade georgia, the fact is the war was begun by the american backed military forces in georgia, because they attacked russian enclaves in georgia. today nobody is firing a shot. if nobody fires a shot, there's a way out. there is a worse scenario. that is the russians think they

have to move their troops not only into crimea, peninsula with naval bases and historically part of russia but eastern and southern ukraine generally, in which case enormous pressure for nato to move into western ukraine and then all bets are off. >> would the capability or capacity of ukrainian arm, where do they lie? >> the army, as much as it is, 30,000 troops, is ethnically russian. we don't know if they would follow kiev's orders f there was a war, literally even if we're not religious, we need to pray there's not a war. this would be a turning point in history. if there's a war, ukrainians would support kiev and west would become part of the fighters. they don't have an army that can fight. that would be as bloody as anything. it will be a civil war. ancient hate reds, tombstones will be kicked over as they say.

ancient hate reds would rome the land for years and years. >> you've studied russian relations. how bad is this now? >> i think we have seen the decent of russia divide, the russian boersd. can it end there? i think it depends whether the west now rises to leadership and gives putin guarantees he needs to back off. now in america there's a different view. has he to back off first. but that's where we stand. >> thanks so much. >> my pleasure. for continuing coverage of the crisis in ukraine, visit "newshour".pbs.org. china today blamed uighur separatists for a deadly attack at a train station. at least 29 people killed and 140 wounded after a group of 10 men attacked passengers at a train station with knives. authorities killed four of the

men and captured another. they are looking for the rest. the attack took place in unionan, 900 miles from gin jiang, the area where they leave. a series of attacks that left 90 people dead there. extremists blamed for killing 39 villagers in an overnight attack. another 51 people killed in car bombings in an urban area. many were children. the group responsible translates to western education is sinful. the united states has released a convicted cuban spy. he was welcomed home in havana after being in prison in the united states for 15 years. he was one of five men arrested in miami in 1998. they were allegedly monitoring the activities of anti-cuban groups. another of the convicted spies had been released earlier. the remain three are still being held. there has been a setback for animal rights groups trying to document alleged animal abuse

and cruelty. on friday idaho became the seventh state to criminal lize hidden cameras recordings inside farms. a group knowns as mercy for animals got hired at one of the state's largest dairy farms and then shot video of workers caning, beating and sexually abusing cows. under the new law anyone convicted of recording hidden camera video inside an agriculture operation could be jailed for a year and fined $5,000. the crisis in ukraine front and center but talks about another international trouble spot in the middle east set to get under way in washington. israeli prime minister netanyahu joins president obama. joining us affairs correspondent

for "wall street journal." i'm assuming what's front and center here is the conversation or negotiation between the u.s. and iran and its nuclear program are accelerating and israel feels with what the u.s. is offering is too lenient toward iran. >> that's right. israeli prime minister netanyahu have been very critical since this negotiation picked up steam last november saying they want a complete dismantling of iran's nuclear program, if they don't do it, keep the sanctions on them, the obama administration is pursuing a diplomacy that's really accelerating but already accepted iran will maintain some ability to produce nuclear fuel in the future. the sanctions have already been eased. there's a huge gap between the israelis and the americans on this diplomacy. i do think that will be the key issue the prime minister wants to talk to president obama about. >> what about middle east peace process in the background. there's been some friction from israelis saying it looks like president obama wants to spearhead a specific agenda and

it's too aggressive. >> the peace process has kind of been hanging out there. it doesn't get as much attention in the press as it used to but still there. basically by the end of april, april 30th was the original deadline for when the negotiations that we're brokering between israelis and palestinians was supposed to end. right now secretary kerry is really pushing for what's called a framework agreement, which is basically will set clearer terms for what the negotiation will focus on and will allow for the april 30th deadline to be kicked down the road and continue the process. israelis have always been concerned that the americans will sort of create their own deal, basically, and say take it or leave it. this is something they have fought very aggressively and that they are pushing back about. i'm sure that will be after iran sort of second biggest issue the two leaders will discuss. >> speaking of secretary of state kerry, he ruffled a few feathers earlier this year with comments about economic isolation and entities boycotting israel. israel pushed back.

>> speaking in munich saying if the peace process collapse, the push by european countries, the basic boycott of israel will increase a lot. secretary kerry basically said he was just describing what was going on. he wasn't threatening. but there was real pushback by the prime minister and a number of very conservative politicians in israel. so i think it just shows how much tension there is on the midwest peace project. >> foreign affairs correspondent for "wall street journal" joining us from washington. thanks so much. >> thank you. next month for the seventh consecutive years organizations will hold fundraising for autism awareness. here they aim to make live theater accessible to children and adults on the autism

spectrum. a reporter's story first aired in january. >> reporter: this might look like the typical saturday matinee on broadway. the fact anne-marie is here with her son nick tells you it's anything but and tickets for this particular performance weren't available to the general public. they were only sold to families like hers. this performance of "spider-man:turn off the dark" was especially available for people with autism. scotty has a very difficult time going to any kind of show. >> when you go to places, i always feel like i'm on guard. i have to be like, okay, my son has autism. i'm sorry if he does something to bother you or upset you, but i want him to be able to enjoy this as well. >> anne-marie scotty says her family has walked out of performances wasting hundreds of dollars because of disapproving

stares and comments from other audience members. >> nick wanted to see "spider-man" in the worst way. that was one play i was not going to go take him to. >> reporter: that's where the theater development fund stepped in. >> this is a way of ensuring a warm, welcoming environment judgment-free, so that families can come and relax and have a good time and not worry about how the person on the spectrum is going to behave or what other people might think. >> reporter: lisa is director of accessibility programs of the theater development fund. the nonprofit organization coordinates performances like these four times a year. the mission is to make live theater more accessible to diverse audiences. here are some of the things you'll see at an autism friendly show that you wouldn't see on broadway otherwise. ushers have about 30 extra helpers on hand. they hand out colorful stress

relievers called manipulative to help autistic audience members to relax before and during the performance. they make the autism friendly shows as close to the regular shows as possible. audio levels are reduced by about 20% and strobe lights are completely eliminated. yet organizers say it's what's happening offer stage that truly makes this broadway performance unique. the usually empty lobbies are transformed into spaces for beanbags and toys for families that need a break from sensory overload. if anyone needs a bigger break, some sections are designated to be completely silent. for weeks before this special performance, the theater development fund was already helping nick scotty ease into this new experience by making customizable social stories available on its website. >> here is the lobby. do we walk or do we run? what do we do? >> walk. >> we walk. right. >> reporter: even with the

changes to the show, nick had a hard time getting through the first act. >> you were in a regular play, you'd be out by now, if your kid wasn't quiet enough. everyone here is great. all the volunteers have been great with my kid. i couldn't ask for a better day. recapping our top story, the prime minister of ukraine said today his country is perilously close to war with russia, this as russian troops surrounded ukrainian military bases in crimea and gained operational control over the region. the area is home to the russian black sea fleet but has been part of the ukraine for 60 years. secretary of state john kerry warned today that the west would impose economic sanctions on russia unless it withdraws its troops. late today kerry announced he would travel to ukraine tuesday. russian prime minister medvedev

said ukraine's new pro western leaders seized power. their role will end with a new revolution and new blood shed. join us online and on air tomorrow for the "newshour" for the latest on ukraine. also how they determine if a person is mentally fit to be executed. that's it for the "newshour weekend." i'm harris sreenivasan. thanks for watching. >> made possible by louis b. coleman judy and josh westin, joyce b. hale. w walloch family. rosalynn p. walter. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america designing customized, individual, and group retirement products. that's why we're you're retirement company. additional support is provide by --

and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

steves: venice's sleek and graceful gondolas are a symbol of the city. from the start, boats were the way to get around among the island communities of the lagoon. to navigate over shifting sandbars, the boats were flat-bottomed, and the captains stood up to see. today's boats still come with gondoliers standing up and no rudder or keel. they're built with a slight curve so that a single oar on the side propels them in a straight line. the art of the gondola survives in the quiet back canals. in this shop, the workmen, who needed to be good with wood, were traditionally from italy's mountains. that's why they maintain a refreshing alpine feel in this delightful little corner of venice. nearby, in an artisan's workshop,

visitors are welcome to observe as he provides for the city's 400 gondoliers. working with traditional tools, graceful oars are carefully planed to be true and properly balanced. and each walnut forcola, the stylized oarlock, is like a sculpture -- handcrafted, one-of-a-kind, and honoring the city's heritage. a gondola ride is a traditional must for romantics. gondolas are moored everywhere. wait till early evening, when the crowds are gone and the light is right. find a gondolier whose personality you enjoy, settle on a price, and hop in. man: [ speaking italian ] steves: on a gondola, you glide through your own private venice, far from the hubbub of modern tourism.

lonely bridges, canals without sidewalks, and reflections of once-upon-a-time grandeur.

♪ >> there's a tremendous friction between these two interests. >> there is a generational difference. >> there was a certain amount of jealousy at the enormous success that diana had with the public. >> it was difficult to reconcile the different poles between glamour and duty. >> she was too hot, almost, to handle for them. >> the queen never really trusted her. >> diana was going to be the queen. >> she said, "i don't want to put on a show for the queen anymore." ♪ >> london, first of september, 1997. ♪