Russia was ready to put nuclear weapons on standby over Ukraine: documentary

A new documentary, aired on Russian state TV,... is showing President Vladimir Putin being more aggressive on Crimea and Ukraine, contrary to Moscow's articulated stance thus far.In the piece titled, "The Path to the Motherland"... President Putin says he had in fact *ordered Crimea's annexation... weeks before the region held a referendum.In Sunday's run of the documentary, the Russian leader says he was ready to put *nuclear weapons on standby during the escalating tensions over Crimea and Ukraine... in both cases, explaining that the lives of Russians and Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych... were under threat.President Putin himself, meanwhile, has been out of the public eye... since cancelling a summit meeting with his Belarusian and Kazakh counterparts last week... sparking rumors that he was ill... or out of the country.