Putin Told Germans in 1994 that Eastern Ukraine and Northern Kazakhstan had ‘Always Been Part of the Russian State’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 1 – Many in the West have managed to convince themselves that Vladimir Putin accepted the 1991 demise of the USSR throughout the Yeltsin years and into his own presidency and only changed his position when he felt that the West was not showing sufficient respect to him and his country.

            But a new book published in Germany features a comment he made to a German diplomat in 1994 that casts serious doubt on that view and raises some serious questions about what Putin may do in the future. At that time, Putin said that eastern Ukraine and northern Kazakhstan had “always been part of the Russian state.”

            The volume in which that quote is to be found is the Dossier of the Foreign Policy of the FRG (in German). It has been summarized by Der Spiegel at spiegel.de/panorama/wladimir-putin-neuer-hinweis-putin-erkannte-russlands-grenzen-schon-1994-nicht-an-a-d3a66748-2152-4b53-b479-10ba34b4526a and reported in Russian at meduza.io/feature/2025/08/01/putin-esche-v-1994-godu-govoril-chto-vostok-ukrainy-i-sever-kazahstana-vsegda-byli-chastyu-rossiyskogo-gosudarstva.

            That Putin remark shows that he had his eyes on two regions of neighboring countries long before 2008 and that, having invaded Ukraine to occupy some or all of it, he almost certainly will focus on acquiring northern Kazakhstan as well – unless he is defeated in Ukraine and contained.