Who broke the 1994 Budapest Memorandum regarding Ukraine?
In the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, the United States, Russia, and Britain committed “to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine” and “to refrain from the threat or use of force” against the country.
Those assurances played a key role in persuading the Ukrainian government in Kyiv to give up what amounted to the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal, consisting of some 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads.
It seem that Russia broke the agreement.
Maybe if guarantees to protect Ukraine were given by the West, the answer would be different.
But, the worry at the time was about Ukraine being attacked by the West, and they hoped for Russian protection in that event.
It went totally wrong.
Russia disarmed Ukraine and then invaded when Ukraine wanted to have closer ties with Europe.
Russia needed to invade Ukraine quickly, before Ukraine came under the protection of the NATO alliance.
NATO’s fundamental goal is to safeguard the Allies’ freedom and security by political and military means. NATO remains the principal security instrument of the transatlantic community and expression of its common democratic values.
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