Ukraine thought UK had ‘too rosy’ a view of Putin, Blair was told when PM

Tony Blair, pictured in 2006, who was urged not to snuff out Ukraine's aspirations to join the EU. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Ukrainians believed the west rubbished them and had “too rosy” a view of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair was warned, as Ukraine sought his support for EU membership 10 years after it won independence in 1991, newly released papers reveal.

As Ukraine set a goal of “European vocation”, Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, instead proposed the idea of “special neighbourhood status” for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.