Ambassador: United Kingdom complying with all Budapest Memorandum commitments

"Since we signed this [Budapest] Memorandum, we have been complying with everything it required of us. There were two commitments, weren't there? The signatory countries shall not resort to aggression against Ukraine and if that happens, the signatory countries shall do everything possible to bring the aggressor to justice under international law. That's what we signed. We did not attack Ukraine. And we are bringing the aggressor to justice within the international system," the diplomat said in an interview with BBC News Ukraine.

The only thing that happened with the Memorandum was that Russia, which undertook not to commit aggression against Ukraine, did that, the diplomat noted.

"Every time Ukraine initiates any negotiations within the format of the Memorandum, Britain is ready and will be ready to take part in them. If Ukraine wants to negotiate in this format, we will take part. But the key question, frankly, is the same we have with the Minsk agreements: Russia must comply with what it signed," Simmons stressed.

On December 5, 1994, the leaders of Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Russia, and the United States signed the Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Two other nuclear powers and UN Security Council permanent members, China and France, also joined the document which contained signatories’ commitments to guarantee Ukraine’s independence and territorial integrity.

Pursuant to the Memorandum, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom pledged to respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and existing borders; refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine; refrain from the use of weapons against Ukraine, except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations; refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind.

In 2014, Russia launched armed aggression against Ukraine in violation of this agreement and other international legal acts on relations with Ukraine by occupying Crimea and part of the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

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