German Foreign Ministry Archive: Putin claimed Crimea and Kazakhstan back in 1994

The German Federal Foreign Office found signs that Putin did not recognize Russiaʼs borders back in 1994 and expressed Russiaʼs territorial claims to Crimea, eastern Ukraine, and northern Kazakhstan.

This is reported by the German magazine Der Spiegel.

The German Consul General in St. Petersburg recounted that on January 14, 1994, Putin “emphatically” repeated what he had already told him earlier:

“Crimea, eastern Ukraine, and northern Kazakhstan — at least these territories — have never been foreign countries for Russia, but have always been part of Russian territory.”

The consul also added that he heard Putin say:

“No Russian can be explained that this is now a foreign country for them.”

This comment by the German diplomat appeared in a publication published by the Institute of Contemporary History.

Then Putin pointed to the national feeling of Russians, which Germans "probably find difficult to understand".

In 1994, Putin was the first deputy head of the government of St. Petersburg.

For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.