Verbatim transcripts with George W. Bush show trajectory from total U.S. partner after 9/11 to aggrieved interlocutor after Iraq, ABM, NATO expansion, color revolutions
Washington, D.C., December 23, 2025 - The verbatim transcripts of Vladimir Putin's meetings and telephone calls with U.S. president George W. Bush from 2001 to 2008 opened to the public yesterday as the result of a Freedom of Information lawsuit by the National Security Archive.
The documents show that Russian president Putin was Bush's close ally in 2001 with their shared anti-terrorism focus, Putin's on Chechnya and Bush's on Al-Qaeda, to the point that Bush exclaimed "You're the type of guy I like to have in the foxhole with me."
But by the end of Bush's time in office, Putin had aired his severe criticisms of U.S. policies such as invading Iraq and expanding NATO in multiple venues including the famous Munich speech in 2007. Bush complained in a 2008 telcon that Putin "was very effective when you want to be in terms of being tough and hard" so please be "gentlemanly" in his comments at the NATO summit in Bucharest, so that Bush could visit Putin in Sochi afterwards.
Today's publication includes three of the most consequential Putin-Bush conversations, from 2001, 2005, and their last meeting in 2008.
Putin on his support for Israel: "If they need me to have a circumcision, that I can't do."
W in 2001: "You're the type of guy I like to have in the foxhole with me."
W in 2007: "I must confess I didn't realize the harshness of your reaction to the system [missile defense]. That's my fault."
Putin on Chechens 2001: "They are Bin Laden's students. Bin Laden trained them. You would know if you could see the pictures. They even look like him."
Putin 2008: "A missile launch from a submarine in Northern Europe would only take six minutes to reach Moscow." Bush: "I understand." Putin: "And we have established a set of response measures—there's nothing good about it. Within a few minutes our entire nuclear response capability will be in the sky."
The National Security Archive's director of Russia programs Dr. Svetlana Savranskaya provided the George W. Bush Library in November 2023 with a detailed Freedom of Information Act request for every conversation between Putin and Bush in the early 2000s, based on her research both on calendars and briefing books at the Bush Library in Dallas, and even more so, on the Kremlin website that frequently summarized each meeting and conversation.
But in June 2024, the George W. Bush Library informed the Archive “our best estimate at this time is that it [declassification review for the FOIA request] may be completed in approximately 12 years.”
With pro bono representation from the law firm of Goodwin Procter, the Archive filed suit in federal court in November 2024 to contest the estimated 12-year backlog of Freedom of Information requests for presidential records held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). As a result of the lawsuit, NARA processed the documents in 2025, informed both the former president and the current president in case they objected, and on December 22, informed the Archive of the release.
The Archive particularly thanks the exemplary Goodwin Procter lawyers who carried out this enormous public service, led by Jaime Santos and Andrew Kim.
The documents provide previously unavailable evidence on the close partnership between Putin and Bush after the 9/11 attacks, including extraordinary commentary by Bush on U.S. intentions in Afghanistan, year by year assessments of the U.S. debacle in Iraq, and much jocular interaction between the two presidents.
Over time the conversations become more difficult, especially around the Russian critique of American arguments for missile defense, and Putin's growing distrust of American intentions in Russia's "near abroad," the areas of the former Soviet Union where Putin keeps asserting his superior knowledge of the realities on the ground, and his own national interests.
The transcripts also provide highest-level candid discussions of Iran's nuclear ambitions, the realities of the North Korean nuclear program, and the rising power of China (Bush: "China is the biggest long term problem for both of us." Putin: "More for you." Bush: "They're not on our border....").
The nonprofit nonpartisan National Security Archive, based at George Washington University, has published award-winning books and reference collections on US-Soviet and US-Russian relations, including records of summit meetings during the Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton administrations with their counterparts Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin. The Archive won journalism's prestigious George Polk Award for “piercing self-serving veils of government secrecy.”
The Archive has brought multiple previous lawsuits under the FOIA and other federal records laws that preserved White House emails from the Reagan/Bush administrations and that saved over a billion White House email records and WhatsApp messages from President Trump's first term. Archive lawsuits have opened historic collections ranging from the Kennedy-Khrushchev letters during the Cuban Missile Crisis, to the Chiquita Papers, to Donald Rumsfeld’s “snowflakes” written during the Iraq and Afghan wars.
READ THE Documents
Document 1
In this first personal meeting at the Brno Castle in Slovenia Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush express respect for each other and desire to establish a close relationship. Putin tells Bush about his religious beliefs and the story of his cross that survived a fire at his dacha. In a short one-on-one meeting they cover all the most important issues of U.S.-Russian relations such as strategic stability, ABM treaty, nonproliferation, Iran, North Korea and NATO expansion. Bush tells his Russian counterpart that he believes Russia is part of the West and not an enemy, but raises a question about Putin’s treatment of a free press and military actions in Chechnya.
Putin prefers to talk about the need to combat terrorism and security threats. He is assertive and dominates the conversation, deflecting Bush’s question on press restrictions. He gives Bush a brief history lecture on (his interpretation) of the breakup of the Soviet Union: “What really happened? Soviet good will changed the world, voluntarily. And Russians gave up thousands of square kilometers of territory, voluntarily. Unheard of. Ukraine, part of Russia for centuries, given away. Kazakhstan, given away. The Caucasus, too. Hard to imagine, and done by party bosses.” Putin raises a question of Russian NATO membership and says Russia feels “left out.”
Document 2
Putin meets the U.S. President in the Oval Office for a plenary that covers mainly issues of nonproliferation and U.S.-Russian cooperation on Iran and North Korea. The conversation shows impressively close positions on Iran and North Korea, with Putin presenting himself as an eager and supportive partner. Bush tells Putin “we don’t need a lot of religious nuts with nuclear weapons” referring to Iran. Putin gives Bush an extended presentation of the Russian understanding and concerns about Iran’s nuclear program as well as reasons Russia is engaged in the Bushehr reactor project. Putin asks Bush if the U.S. is developing a small nuclear weapon. After Rumsfeld’s detailed explanation of actual discussions of such a design, Bush says “Rumsfeld just gave away all our secrets.” Putin says he read all of them on the internet. Usual banter as seen in most Putin-Bush conversations. Moving to North Korea, Putin describes his recent visit to the country and suddenly gives Bush an insight into his own past commitment to communist ideology: “I used to be a member of the Communist Party. I believed in the ideas of communism. I was prepared to die for them. It’s a long road to inner transformation. People are limited to the cubicle they live in. And many are sincere in what they believe.”
Document 3
National Security Archive FOIA lawsuit, George W. Bush Library
This is the last meeting between Putin and Bush, taking place at Putin’s residence in Bocharov Ruchei in Sochi on the Black Sea. The tone is strikingly different from the early conversations, where both presidents pledged cooperation on all issues and expressed commitment to strong personal relationship. This meeting takes place right after the NATO summit in Bucharest where tensions flared about the U.S. campaign for an invitation to Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO. Putin is a gracious host and Bush is a polite guest, but they cannot avoid disagreements. Still it is impressive how they are still able to discuss substantive issues in a constructive manner. Putin gives a good explanation of the Russian perspective of missile defense deployments in Poland and the Czech Republic. Bush hears the Russian concerns but would not change his position. Turning to conversations in Bucharest, Putin states his strong opposition to NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia and says that Russia would be relying on anti-NATO forces in Ukraine and “creating problems” in Ukraine “all the time,” because it is concerned about “threat of military bases and new military systems being deployed in the proximity of Russia.” Surprisingly, in response, Bush expresses his admiration for the Russian president’s ability to present his case: “One of the things I admire about you is you weren't afraid to say it to NATO. That's very admirable. People listened carefully and had no doubt about your position. It was a good performance.”
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen