Recently released transcripts of conversations between Vladimir Putin and then-President of the United States George Bush refute the Kremlin’s narrative that the cause of the war against Ukraine was the Revolution of Dignity. This was reported by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Georgiy Tikhiy, commenting on the publication in the U.S. National Security Archive.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Transcripts of Conversations: Denial of Ukrainian Statehood
According to the released transcripts, as early as 2001, Putin stated that the collapse of the USSR was a manifestation of “goodwill” and supposedly anticipated the renunciation of territories such as Ukraine, which he referred to as “part of Russia for centuries.” In conversations in 2008, Putin warned the U.S. against including Ukraine in NATO, calling it an “artificial country created during Soviet times.”
Comment from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and U.S. Reaction
“Putin denied Ukraine’s right to exist in 2001. Twenty-one years before the full-scale invasion and thirteen years before the Revolution of Dignity, which he often calls the ‘root cause’ of the war,” stated the spokesperson of the Ukrainian agency.
Georgiy Tikhiy also emphasized that the true cause of the war remains the “imperial tumor in his and other Russian minds.”
It is worth noting that the official U.S. authorities have not yet provided public comments regarding the release of these documents.