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The US has declassified conversations between Putin and Bush
Through legal action, the National Security Archive of the United States obtained the declassification and publication of transcripts of meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former U.S. President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2008. The conversations focused particularly on Ukraine and NATO.
The transcripts were published on the National Security Archive website.
What did Putin and Bush talk about regarding Ukraine and NATO?
According to the Archive, the documents were obtained through a lawsuit filed against the Bush Library and contain significant portions of closed negotiations. During their last meeting in Sochi in April 2008, Putin states his strong opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia and says that Russia would be relying on anti-NATO forces in Ukraine and "creating problems" in Ukraine "all the time," because it is concerned about "threat of military bases and new military systems being deployed in the proximity of Russia."
During conversations, the Kremlin dictator has repeatedly tried to portray Ukraine as a "man-made state" created during the Soviet era. He has also claimed that a significant portion of the Ukrainian population views NATO as an enemy organization.
"Ukraine is a very complicated country. It's not a naturally formed nation. It's an artificial state created during the Soviet era," he said.
Meanwhile, documents show how drastically relations between the U.S. and Russia changed during Bush's two presidential terms. Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Bush described Putin as a reliable partner.
W in 2001: "You're the type of guy I like to have in the foxhole with me," he told Russian president.
In response, Putin attempted to portray the war in Chechnya as part of the global fight against terrorism. He claimed that the Chechen militants were "Bin Laden's disciples." However, tensions escalated sharply during Bush's second term when the Kremlin strongly criticized U.S. plans for a European missile defense system and openly threatened retaliation.
Putin 2008: "A missile launch from a submarine in Northern Europe would only take six minutes to reach Moscow."
Bush: "I understand."
Putin: "And we have established a set of response measures—there's nothing good about it. Within a few minutes our entire nuclear response capability will be in the sky."
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