Global community should increase pressure on Russia to make it comply with Budapest Memorandum – FM

This is said in a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on the 26th anniversary of signing the Budapest Memorandum, published on the ministry's website.

"Ukraine continues to consider the Budapest Memorandum as an important international political and legal base for ensuring Ukraine's security by the United States, the United Kingdom, France and the People’s Republic of China. Ukraine calls on the international community to increase its pressure on Russia to ensure it returns to the implementation of the Budapest Memorandum. Russia must fully comply with its commitments under this document," the statement reads.

Having concluded this document with Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Russian Federation reaffirmed their obligations to respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. France and the People’s Republic of China provided the similar assurances in the separate letters.

However, the relevant obligations towards our country have not been fulfilled. The Russian Federation as one of the states-guarantors has flagrantly violated its obligations under the Memorandum and the basic principles of international law, by occupying the sovereign part of the territory of Ukraine - the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol - and unleashing the armed conflict in Donbas.

Nowadays, Russia progressively militarizes the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea, having transformed it into a powerful military base. "Taking into consideration the strategic location of Crimea, the potential deployment by Russia of nuclear weapons on its territory endangers the regime of the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and undermines the global security system in general. The international community must properly react to such actions," the report reads.

The Foreign Ministry notes that Ukraine highly appreciates actions of the United States, the United Kingdom and France, which remain resolute in their support of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders, and strengthen their support through practical assistance towards enhancing Ukraine's defense capabilities and implementation of restrictive measures against the aggressor state. 

As a reminder, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances refers to three identical political agreements signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary on 5 December 1994 to provide security assurances by its signatories relating to the accession of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. The memorandum was originally signed by three nuclear powers: the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States. China and France gave somewhat weaker individual assurances in separate documents.

In 2014, in violation of this agreement and other international legal acts regarding relations with Ukraine, Russia carried out an open armed aggression against Ukraine by occupying Crimea and unleashing an armed conflict in Donbas.

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