Former Polish Foreign Minister and Member of the European Parliament Radosław Sikorski accused Russia of violating the Budapest Memorandum. On the Ukrainian Espreso TV broadcast, he urged Western countries to “give” nuclear weapons to Ukraine, because now they “have the right to do it”.
“As you know, Ukraine gave up its nuclear potential after the signing of the Budapest Memorandum in 1994. Today, the Russians and some still say that these are not guarantees, but then everyone understood that Ukraine in return would become an independent country within the borders established since the times of the USSR, ”the statement said. .
However, Sikorsky added that because of Russia’s alleged violation of the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum, nuclear weapons could be supplied to Ukraine “for its security”.
Budapest Memorandum
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Ukraine took over the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal. On the territory of the former Ukrainian SSR there were 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles of various models, 44 heavy bombers equipped with more than 1,000 long-range nuclear cruise missiles and 1,240 warheads.
The missiles had a range of more than 10 thousand km and could destroy targets outside of Eurasia. Ukraine could theoretically threaten the United States. Washington and Moscow asked Kiev to give up nuclear weapons – otherwise Ukraine would face international isolation. In addition, many nuclear warheads are expiring and Kiev simply lacked the funds and manpower to maintain and destroy them.
In 1994, Ukraine, Russia, the United States and Great Britain signed the Budapest Memorandum – nuclear powers committed to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security and territorial integrity.
These states determined that the Soviet nuclear legacy would go entirely to the legal successor of the USSR, namely Russia. Ukraine is positioned as a very immature country, unable to reliably manage such a dangerous “toy”.
International security guarantees were promised to Kiev in exchange for disarmament. The relevant document was signed at the OSCE summit in Budapest on 5 December 1994. The signatories pledged to refrain from all forms of aggression, including economic, against Ukraine.
But Kiev politicians often criticized the Budapest Memorandum for failing. As Leonid Kuchma, who was elected president of the country in the middle of that year, later recalled, at the summit, his French colleague Francois Mitterrand approached him with the words: “Son, do not believe this document, you will be deceived. ”
Reaction from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Maria Zakharova, reacted to Sikorsky’s words on the Telegram channel.
Radoslav Sikorsky, a member of the European Parliament from Poland, the former foreign minister of this country, husband of Ann Applebaum, the Anglo-American anti-Russian propagandist, said: “Russia violated the Budapest Memorandum, and therefore the West has given a nuclear warhead to Ukraine. You have the right to forgive. to preserve its independence.”
Controlled by an American transmission belt, Polish politicians display extremist ideologies, spread hatred, fuel conflict and now threaten the planet with violations of the nuclear nonproliferation regime. But most importantly, they endanger the Poles, who are drawn to the nuclear redistribution of the world, ”says the publication.
careless words
On February 19, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he wants to convene a summit for consultations on the countries that signed the Budapest Memorandum. The Ukrainian leader said that if the summit is not convened, Ukraine could invalidate the document.
“Call [консультации] Entrusted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. If they do not happen again, or as a result there is no guarantee of security for our country, Ukraine will have every right to believe that the Budapest Memorandum is not working…” Zelensky said in his video message.
So far, the Budapest Memorandum has not been ratified by any of the signatory countries – that is, it has no legal force in terms of international law.
In particular, Anka Feldhusen, the German Ambassador to Ukraine, said that the Budapest Memorandum “really is a format that does not have legal obligations under international law”.
Shortly after, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address to the country’s citizens that Ukraine’s threat to create its own nuclear weapons was “not empty bullshit”.
“Ukraine indeed still has Soviet nuclear technologies and the means to deliver such weapons, including aviation, as well as Soviet-designed Tochka-U operational-tactical missiles, whose range exceeds 100 km, but they will do more, it’s just a matter of time. “There are backlogs from the Soviet era,” he said.
On February 24, a special military operation of the RF Armed Forces began in Ukraine.