An Old Tape Comes Back to Haunt

On October 26, Meduza resurfaced a 20-year-old tape of Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking at a town hall on Ukrainian television. In the video, the man who ordered Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine recognized the former Soviet Republics' sovereignty and quoted Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko to help Viktor Yanukovych win the election.

On October 26, 2004, Putin was invited to Kyiv for an hour-long town hall broadcast during prime time on three Ukrainian national channels: Pervom Natsionalnom (First National), 1+1, and Inter. The Russian President responded to Ukrainians' phone calls on their country's relationship with Russia.

At the time of Putin's appearance on Ukrainian television, the elections in this neighboring country would determine whether it would be politically aligned with Russia. Viktor Yanukovych, the then-prime minister and presidential candidate, promised to reinforce economic ties with Russia and make Russian the second language of Ukraine. The opposition party Nasha Ukraina (Our Ukraine) candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, advocated for Ukraine to pivot towards the European Union. Russian authorities openly endorsed Yanukovych.

Putin visited Ukraine six times in 2004. On the Russian president's sixth visit, he participated in the town hall, where he pre-selected the majority of the audience's questions.

At the beginning of the event, Putin said that ten years after the fall of the USSR, Russia realized that the former Soviet Republics were separate states and should develop as equal partners. He also recognized the countries were independent and should be treated as such. Putin emphasized throughout the transmission that Russia respected Ukraine's sovereignty and integrity.

Multiple questions were asked in Ukrainian. Putin refused the TV host's offer to translate them, saying the language was beautiful. The Russian president even recited a quatrain by Taras Shevchenko. Throughout the broadcast, he said "v Ukraine [In Ukraine]" instead of "na Ukraine [on Ukraine]," a subtle Russian grammatical way of recognizing Ukraine as an independent country instead of a province. 

When asked about the reunification of Russia and Ukraine, Putin said that the collapse of the USSR already happened and there was no point in returning to the past. He said integration should be purely economic. Unlike Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia, which had signed treaties to form the Common Economic Space, Kyiv delayed its integration and flirted with joining the EU. Moscow did not like this move.

However, Putin said that Russia did not plan to interfere in the internal political processes of its neighboring country. He said, "Of course, nobody is creating any USSR... and nobody has set that goal. In general, this would be counterproductive."

In November 2004, Yanukovych was declared the victor of the runoff elections in Ukraine. Putin called him and congratulated him before the official results were published. After election fraud allegations, Ukrainian citizens spoke out (and demonstrated) against the regime. The Supreme Court of Ukraine recognized the falsifications and ordered a new vote, in which Yushchenko was declared the victor. He became president of Ukraine in 2005.

Yanukovych briefly became Ukraine's president in 2010. He currently resides in exile in Russia.

Putin's 2004 statements can be found here.