nick schifrin, "inside putin's russia" airs all next week. nick, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> glor: the trump administration grapples with north korea, there is also trouble brewing between some of america's allies half a world away. a saudi-led blockade of the strategically important nation of qatar is entering its second month. saudi arabiaia, egypt, bahrain, and the united arab emirates accused of qatar of supporting terror groups. this week qatar rejected a long list of demands that included cutting ties to the muslim brotherhood, distancing itself from iran and closing al-jazeera, the state-sponsored broadcaster. joining me from washington is steven cook, of the council of foreign relations. he is the author of "false dawn: protest, democracy, and violence in the new middle east." steven, good to see you. a lot of this comes down to what the saudis and the emiratis say is support for terrorism, but that's hard to define, isn't it? >> it is pardon to define. i think -- it is hard to define. i think it's clear, however, that the qat

nick schifrin begins our coverage. >> reporter: this afternoon in the u.n.y council, the u.s. tried to rally the world to punish and isolate north korea. >> it is a dark day, because yesterday's actions by north korea made the world a more dangerous place. >> reporter: u.s. ambassador nikki haley said north korea's test of an intercontinental ballistic missile requires a global response. >> we will work with every and >> they have not had any care for russia or china in this. they have not listened to anything you've said. they're not going to listen to anything you say. and so, it's time we all stand together and say, we will not put up with this action. >> reporter: haley is trying to lead a diplomatic effort to change north korean behavior. the u.s. needs chinese and russian help, but beijing and moscow have their own strategy. >> ( translated ): we call for all interested states to act with restraint, rather than provocation and war-mongering. >> ( translated ): we call on all the concerned parties to exercise restraint, avoid provocative actions and bel

we begin tonight with a look inside russia with journalist nick schifrin and talk about his forthcomingies on the pbs "newshour" called "inside putin's russia." >> over the last 15 or so years, putin has brought relative stability to russia. anybody old enough to remember the '90s will remember the political and economic chaos of that, so that is the first step. the second step is re-creating russian traditions like the orthodox church, pre-soviet traditions like the kosics into a level of pride in shared religion and traditions, and that's tapped into a collective identity that russia's long had, and that means that the pride that russians feel, the patriotism that russians feel today, yes, there

again, in partnership with the pulitzer center on crisis reporting, special correspondent nick schifrinproducer zach fannin examine why. >> ( translated ): it is no accident the youth are tempted to go to syria, because today there is a revival of islam. >> reporter: kazim nurmagometov is 62 years old, and his son fought for isis. he was never tempted to go to syria, but he and his wife rashida understand why their son marat was. >> ( translated ): the islamic call i was talking about, the one in every muslim's soul, is hidden, deep down. it's like a light in someone's heart. >> reporter: nurmagometov lives deep in the caucasus mountains where nearly-dried-up rivers meander through 1,000-foot high cliffs, and beyond ancient rock formations, isolated dirt roads connect secluded villages. one of those villages is karata. official population is 4,000, but residents say it's half that size. this area is nearly 100% muslim. before friday prayers, men greet each other in the small town center. there are few young people, in part because this small village sent as many as two dozen to isis, al

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin in krasnodar, russia. >> woodruff: we continue our series "insidein's russia" tomorrow examining the use of propoganda by the state. and you can hear more from special correspondent nick schifrin on our facebook page, facebook.com/newshour. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: minority report-- a conversation on the future of the democratic party. its monday and our team is here to analyze the week ahead in politics. and, just before the all star game, baseball's best rookies. but first, as republicans on capitol hill try to repeal and replace the affordable care act, we're going to spend the next couple of nights hearing what patients and healthcare providers think should be done. our team visited west virginia and virginia, which made very different decisions about medicaid. west virginia did commit to expanding medicaid through obamacare. but virginia is one of 19 states that did not. the state's republican- controlled legislature voted against expanding the program to 400,000 more citizens because of concerns over costs. tonight

with me now is special correspondent nick schifrin. , in addition to what judy just told us, what are the russians demanding? >> by september 1, the u.s. has to reduce its staff inside of russia to 455, that's at the embassy in moscow and three consulates around the country, and by monday they'll lose access to a storage facility inside moscow as wells a country house they generally use outside of moscow, and russia vows to punish them even more if the u.s. responds. >> sreenivasan: is the state department concerned? do we have lots more people there? >> yeah, this is a major escalation because of the numbers of people who are there. former u.s. officials tell me that there are anywhere from 1100 to 1500 staff in russia, so to bring that down to 455 could mean expelling hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of u.s. staff. that is on a magnitude much higher than the expelling of 35 russians believed to be intelligence officers by president obama last year. so, clearly, today's announcement is designed not just to affect u.s.'s ability to co

reportingproduct of by journalist nick schifrin and zach bannon.hey recently traveled to a dozen russian cities in an attempt to better understand the country. it will explore everything from the relationship to the u.s., to propaganda, and the fate of putin's enemies. thefirst episode deals with popularity of president clinton. here is a look. >> the idea the state is more important than the people is not new. >> for us, it is a collective concept. we consider ourselves to be part of the whole. to be russian means to share the same cultural and historic identity. , he inspired the kremlin's ideology. he says the elected identity comes from patriotism, projection of power, and respect for rule. putin katzen to all three connecting russian -- taps into all three. >> it is not something additional or artificial. breath, our organic way of life. >> today, the kremlin uses the patriots and convince the population only a powerful state can protect them from enemies. enemy number one, the u.s. they accuse the u.s. of humiliating russia are expanding nato

we breakdown what we know and the key questions that remain with nick schifrin. nick, you've spent today talking to a lot of people. what new dud we learn about jared kushner and his dealings with the russians? >> i think the new narrative is that this is the senior advisor to a president who has questioned whether there was any influence by russia last year detailing russia influence on him and perhaps on trump policy. nobody in this administration has really done that before. you have three examples of that laid out. one is ambassador kislyak, the former russian ambassador to the united states, asking for a direct line between the trump transition team and russian generals on sir. i can't this is very unusual. kislyak could have asked the obama administration, could have used the u.s. government to do so and would be expected to do so and didn't do that. he tried to circumvent the obama administration and use kushner to do that. secondly, sergei, the banker, shows up with two gifts, art and dirt, and many of the people i spoke to today, that metaphor of dirt is

you are doing the same thing against us. >> nick schifrin joins me now. am pleased to welcome him to the program. the first part of the program is how russians see vladimir putin versus how americans see vladimir putin. >> i think this goes to white russians, when the u.s. tax russia, russians see it as an attack on their identity. over the last 15 years, putin has brought relative stability to russia. anybody old enough to remember the 1990's will remember the economic and political chaos. that is the first step. the second step is re-creating russian traditions like the orthodox church, pre-soviet traditions, into a level of pride in shared religion and traditions. that has tapped into a collective identity that russia has long had. that means the pride russians feel, the patriotism russians feel today, yes, there is some manipulation, propaganda, and repression. but it is also a genuine perception that putin has made the country more stable, better. russia is able to project power, and that means putin's popularity is genuine. >> it is nostalgia. >> it

nick schifrin has been following the story, and joins me now. nick, why are the russians so interested in these two compounds? >> what officials are talking about is bilateral irritants, so these are the compounds, these are the russian diplomats who were expelled last year as part of the u.s. response to the russian hacking, and these are not the major issues, these are not syria and ukraine, and the idea is the fewer issues you talk about the more likely you make at least a little progress. >> woodruff: what are the prospects they can reach any kind of agreement? >> that's what the trump administration is trying to find, any kind of agreement. there are huge head windows politically in this country if you give back the compounds, but u.s. officials are worried about retribution. russia says if there's no deal in the near future, three dozen of your diplomats will be expelled and life for your diplomats in russia will get worse, and we've already seen a campaign of intimidation against u.s. diplomats, in russia in june 2016 we saw a u.s. diploma

for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin in washington. >> woodruff: late today, the senate judiciarymittee said that donald trump jr. and former trump campaign manager paul manafort will testify next wednesday about their meeting with a russian lawyer last summer. presidential son-in-law jared kushner goes before the senate intelligence committee on monday. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: what proposed cuts to food stamps could mean for trump voters. how tesla's new, cheaper electric car could shape the industry's future. and, "devil's bargain," a new book about white house strategist steve bannon. but first, president trump continues to repeat the unsubstantiated claim that millions of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 election. the commission he set up to look into this has sparked its own controversy. william brangham reports. >> every time voter fraud occurs, it cancels out the vote of a lawful citizen's, and undermines democracy. >> brangham: the first meeting of the "commission on election integrity" convened with a presidential defense of its mission. >

with the help of the pulitzer center on crisis reporting, special correspondent nick schifrin and producer zach fannin begin their report in moscow. >> reporter: in russia, whoever controls the media controls the country. and saturday nights are sergey brilev's. the 44-year-old is an anchor for russia one. it's the country's most popular channel, and it's state-owned. do you think that that means you have a russian perspective? >> well of course there's a russian perspective. there is a perspective of your country in any reporting. >> reporter: brilev says he doesn't feel pressure to push the government's line. during the show we saw, he challenged a government minister about police jailing a former theater director who's a government critic. >> i imagine that tomorrow-- tonight-- after the broadcast, i may have some security agencies, and saying, "what does he think he's saying?" >> reporter: russian state media have long delivered the government perspective and rallied the public behind it. brilev denies that's his job. but he hints at whose job it is. >> the sunday program, which is qui

nick schifrin begins our coverage. >> reporter: on this july 4, north korea declared independence from what it called american nuclear threats. >> ( translated ): the scientists and technicians have successfully test-fired the newly developed inter- continental ballistic missile. >> reporter: in pyongyang, north koreans celebrated what appears to be north korea's most advanced test in its long pursuit of a nuclear weapon. the missile flew for about 40 minutes almost straight up, reaching an altitude of more than 1,500 miles, and came straight down, landing 580 miles away in the sea of japan. on a flatter trajectory, it's estimated the missile could have traveled as far as 4,000 miles-- past anchorage, alaska, says scientist david wright. >> if they shoot it essentially straight up in the air, it goes very, very high and comes down not very far away. if they flatten it out a little bit, it uses all that speed to go a much longer distance. >> reporter: but the test does not mean north korea can deliver a nuclear weapon. it's not known whether it's mastered required miniaturization, or gu

again in partnership with the pulitzer center on crisis reporting, special correspondent nick schifrin producer zach fannin start their report in moscow, on victory day. >> reporter: on russia's most patriotic holiday, russians of all ages remember what they consider their finest moment. they mark the anniversary of victory in world war two by honoring the dead. kiriginov naimovich's grandfather fought the nazis. he says russia and the u.s. were once allies, and should be again. >> ( translated ): we really want to love you and be friends with you. we are waiting for you to finally meet us half-way. >> reporter: for russians, it's the u.s. who's unwilling to come halfway. many here believe president trump wants to improve things but is being blocked by what dmitriy schyukin calls the american establishment. >> ( translated ): trump wants to do something, but he's forced to follow the general political line. >> donald trump is the most right wing candidate of the republican party. >> reporter: perhaps nobody expressed more hope in trump than alexander dugin, a right- wing tv firebrand a

special correspondent nick schifrin reports. >> reporter: this weekend on the neva river in st.ersburg, russia celebrated its global naval ambitions. president putin hailed thousands of russian sailors lined up on ships and submarines. he said his hopes for a revamped, reenergized navy had been realized. and he admitted his hopes for a better relationship with the united states, had been dashed. >> ( translated ): we had hoped that the situation will somehow change, but apparently if it changes, it won't be soon. >> reporter: on friday, the russian government ordered the closure of this u.s. embassy moscow storage facility. today, american workers packed it up. the russian government also ordered the closure of this country home used by u.s. diplomats, and an unprecedented, even stunning reduction in us staff, from more than 1,300 to 455. putin said he hoped he wouldn't have to deliver further punishment. >> ( translated ): we certainly have something to respond with and restrict those areas of joint cooperation that will be painful for the american side, but i don't think we ne

special correspondent nick schifrin and producer zach fannin report from moscow. >> reporter: in today'sussia, there are consequences to criticizing the state. police tell protesters their rally isn't sanctioned. they are asking president vladimir putin not to run for re-election. the demonstration is sponsored by the opposition group open russia. in saint petersburg, and across the country, police arrested more than 100 protesters. >> it is democratic opposition activists who are being arrested and given lengthy prison sentences, for no other reason than expressing their political views. it is members of the democratic opposition who are being forced into exile, or harassed, or attacked, or murdered. >> reporter: 35-year-old vladimir kara-murza is open russia's vice chairman. he is an outspoken activist, demonstrating against putin and organizing protests. we first sat down with him late last year. >> we believe in the rule of law, we believe in human rights. we believe that russia should enjoy the same democratic institutions that the rest of europe enjoys. >> reporter: to try and crea

we begin tonight with a look inside russia with journalist nick schifrin and talk about his forthcomingbs "newshour" called "inside putin's russia." >> over the last 15 or so years, putin has brought relative stability to russia. anybody old enough to remember the '90s will remember the political and economic chaos of that, so that is the first step. the second step is re-creating russian traditions like the orthodox church, pre-soviet traditions like the kosics into a level of pride in shared religion and traditions, and that's tapped into a collective identity that russia's long had, and that means that the pride that russians feel, the patriotism that russians feel today, yes, there

inside putin's russia as reported by" inside putin's russia" is reported by special correspondent nick schifrinch fannin. here's a preview. that's all for this edition of "pbs newshour weekend." i'm hari sreenivasan. good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter, in memory of abby m. o'neill. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. be more, pbs. [ train whistle blows ] ♪ >> ♪ get on board, we're ready to go ♪ ♪ see the world from the scenic railroad ♪ ♪ from the snowcapped mountains to the sunny coast ♪ ♪ on the great scenic railway journey ♪ ♪ >> welcome to

in tonight's signature segment, special correspondent nick schifrin and producer zach fannin introduce us to the growing opposition movement and one of its key leaders. >> reporter: this is the season of russia's discontent. under president vladimir putin, there's been a tacit agreement that people enjoy their lives and stay out of politics. now, many russians are deciding that bargain's no longer worth it. >> ( translated ): until recently, people were thinking politics were somewhere far away. but now, people understand politics hits close to home. >> reporter: 38-year-old alexey kotorov and his neighbors had considered themselves apolitical, but they launched these protests when the city of moscow planned to evict them from their apartments to knock them down and build high rises. as always, police presence was strong. but some russians' fear of their state seems to be fading, and faith in themselves, rising. do you think you can make a difference? >> ( translated ): we can change things if we stay together. we need to stay active. it's very important right now to recreate civil soc

newshour will air a new series called inside prisons .ussia the product of reporting by journalist nick schifrinthe relationship to the u.s., to propaganda, and the fate of putin's enemies. the first episode deals with the popularity of president putin.

reportingproduct of by journalist nick schifrin and zach bannon.ed to a dozen russian cities in an attempt to better understand the country. it will explore everything from the relationship to the u.s., to propaganda, and the fate of putin's enemies.

on the newshour all next week, correspondent nick schifrin brings us an in-depth look inside vladimirin's russia. >> in russia today, resurgent nationalism. >> it is official. >> still around one man. >> russia posted suddenly it felt like a super power again. >> for putin's opponents. >> we will try to meet the putin family and hasn't gone very well. >> a rare look inside putin's russia, all next week on the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> and the william and flora hewlett foundation, helping people build immeasurably better lives. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newsh

. >> brangham: nick schifrin, margaret warner, thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: famine and drought threaten somaliland's future. and, what this artist's paintings of sunrises and sunsets can teach us about life. but first, an all-girls team from afghanistan finally made it to the u.s. this week to participate in a robotics competition. their visas were denied twice by american officials, until criticism prompted president donald trump to intervene and reverse the decision. the girls joined high school students from more than 150 other countries, many of whom had never seen-- or made-- a robot before. jeffrey brown will look at some of the immigration policy issues this is raising once again. but first, special correspondent kavitha cardoza, with our partner "education week," spoke to some of the afghan girls and other international students in washington d.c., part of our weekly series, "making the grade." >> reporter: hundreds of high school students arrived in washington from across the globe. robotics teams from jamaica to jordan, au