In 2002 Putin was asked by a journalist about Russia's position of Ukraine joining NATO and replies that "Ukraine is a sovereign country" and "we don't see nothing unusual in it". This dramatically contradicts the narratives invented by Kremlin a decade later when they started claiming that NATO is a hostile alliance "surrounding Russia" and Ukraine's membership somehow "threatens Russia", not to mention the narratives about "Ukraine being artificial country" introduced relatively late, in 2020's. But this video in the first place demonstrates that firstly, Russia initially did neither perceive nor present NATO as an anti-Russian alliance, and that it clearly considered Ukraine as a sovereign country and respected its 1991 borders.