US Documents: Putin Clearly Stated in 2008 – NATO and Ukraine Mean Conflict

(Patria) - Based on recently released declassified United States documents, it is evident that Russian President Vladimir Putin warned then-US President George W. Bush in 2008 that Ukraine's admission to NATO would inevitably lead to a long-term confrontation between Russia and the US.

The documents were released by the National Security Archive in Washington and contain transcripts of conversations from a high-level meeting held in Moscow shortly before the NATO summit in Bucharest. The records indicate that Putin clearly stated that the Alliance's expansion to Ukraine would create a permanent field of conflict between Moscow and the West.

According to US translators from the National Security Council, Putin told Bush that Ukraine's membership in NATO was unacceptable due to the proximity of military bases and weapons systems to Russian borders, which Moscow would perceive as a direct security threat. He also pointed to internal divisions in Ukraine, claiming that a significant portion of the population does not support joining the Alliance and that many citizens have strong historical and ethnic ties to Russia.

The documents also state Putin's view of Ukraine as a complex state whose formation, according to him, is largely a result of the Soviet period, asserting that NATO has a negative perception among a segment of the Ukrainian public.

Putin returned to these views in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson in February 2024, recalling the 2008 Bucharest NATO summit when it was included in the final declaration that Ukraine and Georgia would become members of the Alliance, albeit without a precise timeline.

As a reminder, NATO officially stated for the first time in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia were future members of the Alliance, while Ukraine enshrined NATO membership as a strategic goal in its Constitution in 2019. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly reiterated his commitment to this foreign policy goal.