The Russian leader said in 2008 that it could lead to “long-term conflict” with Washington, according to transcripts of the talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned his then-US counterpart, George W. Bush, almost two decades ago that attempts to make Ukraine a member of NATO could split the country apart and result in a confrontation between Moscow and Washington, records of conversations between the two leaders have revealed.
On Tuesday, the US National Security archives published verbatim transcripts of several exchanges between Putin and Bush throughout the 2000s.
During their first meeting in Slovenia in June 2001, the Russian president questioned the need for NATO’s enlargement, but stressed that he “can imagine us [Moscow and Washington] becoming allies,” according to the files.
His tone stiffened significantly by the time of their last meeting in the Russian city of Sochi in April 2008, a year after Putin delivered his famous speech at the Munich Security Conference, criticizing the unipolar world order and NATO’s eastward expansion.
Putin straightforwardly told Bush that “accession to NATO of a country like Ukraine will create for the long-term a field of conflict for you and us, long-term confrontation,” the transcript read.
Ukrainian membership in the bloc would create “uncertainties and threats” for Russia in the form of Western military bases and new weapon systems being deployed near its borders, Putin explained.
”NATO is perceived by a large part of the Ukrainian population as a hostile organization… And relying on the anti-NATO forces in Ukraine, Russia would be working on stripping NATO of the possibility of enlarging. Russia would be creating problems there all the time,” the Russian leader reportedly said.
Putin explained to his interlocutor that Ukraine was “not a nation built in a natural manner,” but a country artificially comprised of territories taken from Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Russia, including Crimea. “It’s populated by people with very different mindsets,” he added.
”I don’t think it’s the right logic” to try to “cement” Ukraine as part of the Western world through it joining the US-led military bloc, the Russian leader was quoted as saying. “Given the divergent views of areas of the population on NATO membership, the country could just split apart,” Putin said, as cited by the records.
Instead of pushing for Ukraine to become a NATO member, efforts must be made to ensure the country’s self-sufficiency and strengthen its economy, Putin urged.
According to the transcript, Bush avoided a direct response to the Russian president’s concerns, only saying that “one of the things I admire about you is you weren’t afraid to say it to NATO. That’s very admirable.”
Putin again spoke about NATO’s broken promise not to expand towards the Russian border during his end-of-year Q&A session last week, telling a Western journalist that “there won’t be any [military] operations [by Moscow] if you treat us with respect and respect our interests, just as we’ve constantly tried to respect yours.”
