Putin Told Bush Ukraine Was “Part of Russia” Decades Before Full-Scale Invasion, 2001 Transcript Shows

As far back as 2001, Russian leader Vladimir Putin told former US President George W. Bush that Ukraine supposedly belonged to Russia and had been transferred by Soviet party officials, according to transcript of the Putin–Bush conversation released by the US National Security Archive.

At their first meeting in June 2001 in Slovenia, Putin delivered what was described as a “brief history lecture” to Bush, offering his own interpretation of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“What really happened? Soviet good will changed the world, voluntarily. And Russians gave up thousands of square kilometers of territory, voluntarily. Unheard of. Ukraine, part of Russia, for centuries given away. Kazakhstan, given away. The Caucasus too. Hard to imagine, and done by party bosses,” Putin said.

In response, Bush told his Russian counterpart that he viewed Russia as part of the West rather than an adversary and encouraged Putin to “redefine the new threats coming from those that hate America” and may hate Russia as well.

Putin also raised the issue of Russia’s possible membership in NATO, saying Moscow felt “left out” by being excluded from the Alliance.

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War in Ukraine

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“In 1954, the Soviet Union applied to join NATO. I have the document. NATO gave a negative answer with four specific reasons: the lack of an Austrian settlement, the lack of a German settlement, the totalitarian grip on Eastern Europe, and need for Russia to cooperate with the UN disarmament process. Now all these conditions have been met. Perhaps Russia could be an ally,” Putin told the former US president.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin said he felt an urge to continue the war against Ukraine even as he claimed Russia was seeking to end the fighting through negotiations on its own terms, The Moscow Times reported.

The outlet quoted Putin as saying, “Our hands itch,” and adding, “We are ready to go further and finish off this vermin.”

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