2008 Putin interview with German ARD TV
A couple of TV interviews of Putin have now surfaced from a few years ago where it made it very clear that Russia would not question Ukraine’s territorial integrity whatsoever. In fact, in the September 2008 interview (just after Russia’s invasion of Georgia) he got testy with the German ARD TV correspondent for even asking such a question. The relevant bits:
RFE Article with Putin ARD TV interview video
ARD: The French Foreign Minister, Mr Kouchner, recently expressed concern that the next conflict could be in Ukraine, more precisely in Crimea and Sevastopol, as a base for Russia’s naval fleet. Are Crimea and Sevastopol a target for Russia?
Putin: You said the next target. We did not have a target here [meaning Georgia] either. So I think talking about some kind of next target is inappropriate.
ARD: So you rule it out?
Putin: If you allow me to answer, you will be satisfied. Crimea is not a disputed territory. There has been no ethnic conflict there, unlike the conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia. Russia has long recognized the borders of modern-day Ukraine. On the whole, we have completed our talks on borders. The issue of demarcation stands, but this is just a technicality. I think questions about such goals for Russia have provocative undertones.
Interestingly he did leave some wiggle room as usual, noting that in Georgia they did not have a target either, but invaded anyhow. At least after creating the thinnest of pretexts, as in Ukraine. The difference of course is that with regards to Ukraine, Russia had signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994 guaranteeing Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its existing borders in exchange for Ukraine giving its 1,200 nuclear warheads and delivery vehicles to Russia. That treaty and Putin’s own indignant denials should have been enough to guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty, but of course Putin is not a normal person.