What a difference a few years makes. Back in 2008, in an interview on German television, Russian President Vladimir Putin upbraided his host for asking whether Moscow had any designs on Ukraine and its Crimean Peninsula.
The conversation took place soon after Moscow's military intervention in Georgia and Putin was pointedly asked whether Ukraine, and particularly Crimea, could be next.
Putin, his temper flaring, said Russia recognized all of Ukraine's borders and, he added, there was no ethnic tensions at all in Crimea -- something the Kremlin emphasized as a key reason for its 2014 forced annexation of the peninsula.
Here is the transcript from the interview:
Reporter:"The French foreign minister, Mr. Kouchner, recently expressed concern that the next conflict could be in Ukraine, more precisely in Crimea, and Sevastopol, as a base for Russia's naval fleet. Are Crimea and S a target for Russia?"
Putin:"You said the next target. We did not have any target here, either. So I think talking about some kind of next target is inappropriate."
Reporter:"So you rule it out?"
Putin:"If you allow me to answer, you will be satisfied. [pauses] Crimea is not a disputed territory. There has been no ethnic conflict there, unlike the conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia. Russia has long recognized the borders of modern-day Ukraine. On the whole, we have completed our talks on borders. The issue of demarcation still stands, but this is just a technicality. I think questions about such goals for Russia have provocative undertones. "