Putin's Game Plan Predicted by John McCain in Resurfaced 2014 Clip

A warning issued by the late U.S. Senator John McCain—nearly a decade ago—about Vladimir Putin's intentions in Ukraine has gone viral.

The clip shows the former GOP lawmaker for Arizona and one-time Republican presidential nominee taking a swipe at American reluctance to help Ukraine for fear of provoking the Russian leader.

"There's nothing that provokes Vladimir Putin more than weakness," he told the BBC on September 10, 2014, over six months after Russia had illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine.

McCain told the broadcaster that Putin's strategy was to "separate eastern Ukraine" and "perhaps" create a land bridge between Russia and Crimea as he criticized the lack of weapons given to Kyiv.

"We would not send weapons to the Ukrainians when they were begging for them. We wouldn't even give them intelligence because we didn't want to 'provoke Vladimir Putin,'" he said.

McCain, who died in 2018, had been critical of the U.S. handling of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, following Moscow's claim that a referendum in 2014 had sealed Crimea's Russian status, which is disputed internationally.

In 2015, McCain told CBS: "I'm ashamed of my country," as he pushed then-President Barack Obama for more weapons to help Kyiv.

While not committing U.S. troops on the ground, the administration of President Joe Biden is the biggest international donor of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine against Russian aggression, providing around $50 billion in support, including weapons systems that have made a big difference to Kyiv's forces.

"By showing weakness, we provoke Vladimir Putin. We have to understand Vladimir Putin's ambitions are the restoration of the old Russian Empire," McCain said in the 2014 interview.

When challenged that Putin had never stated he wanted the east of Ukraine to be incorporated into Russian territory, McCain responded that Putin sought a "Novorossiya" or "New Russia" in reference to some regions of Ukraine.

This showed that "he wants Eastern Ukraine—he wants to make sure he keeps Crimea, and he would like to see—if he can get away with it—Moldova and the Baltics as well—that's what he wants to see restored."

The BBC clip, which, as of Tuesday morning, had received more than 1.1 million views, was praised by social media users for its prescience.

"Back in 2014, John McCain fully predicted Putin's next moves," tweeted user Maksym Borodin. "John McCain got it," tweeted Paul Massaro, senior policy adviser at the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

"John McCain predicted Putin's 2022 playbook back in 2014," tweeted another user, while the journalist and author John Sweeney wrote: "John McCain nails Putin."

The journalist Euan MacDonald tweeted: "John McCain had Putin sussed (that's why the Kremlin hated him so). If only more U.S. republicans were of the late senator's caliber."

Evelyn Farkas, executive director of the McCain Institute, the think tank founded in 2012 and named after the late senator, told Newsweek in a statement: "No U.S. statesman advocated for Ukraine more than John McCain.

"He was right about Vladimir Putin's nefarious intentions and his revanchist disregard for Europe's post-Soviet democracies."

Update 01/07/22, at 5:49 a.m. ET; This article has been updated with a response from the McCain Institute.