These documents, which were previously classified, became available thanks to a court ruling. The National Security Archive was able to achieve their declassification by citing the Freedom of Information Act.
In the first meeting in 2001, Putin expressed his thoughts on the collapse of the USSR, noting that Russia had "voluntarily lost" significant territorial areas. He emphasized that this decision was "unprecedented," mentioning the transfer of territories to Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and the Caucasus, and expressed dissatisfaction with the actions of the party leadership during the Soviet era.
During the same conversation, the possible accession of Russia to NATO was discussed, where Putin expressed feelings of "being left out." At the 2005 meeting, the Russian president also shared his beliefs about communism and his willingness to "sacrifice himself for these ideas."
In the 2008 negotiations, Putin took a hard stance regarding NATO expansion, expressing strong disagreement with the potential accession of Ukraine and Georgia to the alliance. He warned Bush that Moscow could "constantly create problems" in Ukraine by using anti-NATO forces, which was related to concerns about the deployment of military bases and new weapons close to Russia's borders.
Putin also stated that he considers Ukraine an "artificial state" that emerged during the Soviet period and noted that a significant portion of the Ukrainian population identifies as Russian.
According to the National Security Archive, the publication of these documents aims to deepen the understanding of the Russian leadership's position during a critical period in Russian-American relations in the early 2000s.
