Russian president Vladimir Putin, during a private meeting with US President George W. Bush at the NATO Summit, is reported as saying “Don’t you understand, George – Ukraine is not even a nation! What is Ukraine? Part of her territory is Eastern Europe, and part, a considerable part, was given by us!”
This was reported first in this Kommersant article (RUS), which is referenced in this Ukrayinska Pravda article (UKR). This UNIAN article (ENG), interestingly, doesn’t quote Putin’s purported inflammatory statement, although it does include his outright threat: “Russia may consider forcefully incorporating the eastern part of Ukraine and the Crimea into its territory.”
A couple hours after this story “broke” (which is quite an overstatement, since it wasn’t even reported on the evening news in Kyiv), Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko voiced her rather lame response.
My husband Igor said of her response: “Які політикі, така й відповідь – ніяка.” (Her response is just like Ukrainian politics – meaningless.)
Let’s hope the media and public pick up on this story soon, and are as outraged as they rightfully should be! For all the NATO nay-sayers out there, you won’t find NATO threatening or denying Ukrainian sovereignty and independence!
Anka in Kyiv 