‘Watch Out for Russia’: Bush Warned Obama About Possible Aggression Against Ukraine

In 2009 George Bush Jr., the 43rd President of the United States, suggested that Russia might attack Ukraine, The New York Times has reported.

 This was stated in Bush’s declassified memos, which he handed over to his successor, Barack Obama, before leaving office in 2009.

 “Watch out for Russia; it covets the territory of its neighbor Ukraine,” the memo said.

 “Russian attempts to challenge the territorial integrity of Ukraine, particularly in Crimea, which is 59 percent ethnically Russian and is home to the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, must be prevented,” Bush Jr. warned 5 years before Russian forces would seize Crimea and 13 years before Russian troops would invade the rest of the country.

 The former president also warned that Russia will exploit Europe’s dependence on Russian energy and use political means “to drive wedges between the United States and Europe.”

 The memos also touched on a number of other countries. “India is a friend. Pakistan is not. Don’t trust North Korea or Iran, but talking is still better than not... Beware becoming ensnared by intractable land wars in the Middle East and Central Asia,” the former president wrote.