In the April 4 2008 NATO-Russia Council Summit, Putin in his last days as Russian President 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 havent 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. wikileaks.org/cable/2008/08/08USNATO290.html
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 16:56:28 +0000
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