You're reading: After Russian invasion of Georgia, Putin’s words stir fears about Ukraine

The United States believed that comments by former Russian President Vladimir Putin challenging Ukraine’s sovereignty were “cause for greater concern” after Russia invaded Georgia.

The concerns were raised in a leaked cable written by Kurt Volker, U.S. ambassador to NATO, and published on the website of Russian magazine Russian Reporter on Nov. 30. The message is undated, but the contents place it around August 2008.

The cable seems to confirm the widely reported scolding about Ukraine that Putin gave then-U.S. President George Bush, who pushed Ukraine’s membership ambitions despite strong Russian opposition: "Do you understand, George, that Ukraine is not even a state," Putin allegedly told Bush then during a heated exchange.

At the April 4, 2008, NATO-Russia Council Summit in Bucharest, the cable reads: Putin “implicitly challenged the territorial integrity of Ukraine, suggesting that Ukraine was an artificial creation sewn together from territory of Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and especially Russia in the aftermath of the Second World War. He stated, ‘the Crimea was simply given to Ukraine by a decision of the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee. There haven’t even been any state procedures regarding transfer of the territory, since we take a very calm and responsible approach to the problem.’ Putin claimed that 90 percent of inhabitants of the Crimea are Russian, 17 out of 45 million Ukrainian citizens are Russian, and that Ukraine gained enormous amounts of its territory from the east and south at the expense of Russia. He added, ‘if we add in the NATO question and other problems, the very existence of the state could find itself under threat.’”

Volker added that Putin’s comments “take on profound new meaning in light of Russian military actions in Georgia. 4. … NATO needs to be mindful of the connective tissue between events in Georgia, Putin’s threatening language on the territorial integrity of its neighbors, and Ukraine’s (and Georgia’s) MAP [Membership Action Plan] aspirations.”

Ukraine and Georgia had been denied a Membership Action Plan at NATO’s summit in Bucharest in April 2008, but were told that they “will become members.”

Volker discusses the split between NATO allies over why Russia acted in Georgia: “The German-led allies argue that the Bucharest decision on eventual membership provoked the Russian aggression, while most others (including the new members and Canada) see it as we do: that Russia interpreted the denial of MAP [Membership Action Plan] as a green light for action against Georgia.”