Ukraine reaffirms commitment to NATO membership on 30th anniversary of Budapest Memorandum
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed the country's commitment to NATO membership and highlighted the failures of the Budapest Memorandum signed three decades ago in a statement released ahead of the NATO ministerial meeting in Brussels.
The Budapest Memorandum, signed on December 5, 1994, was intended to provide Ukraine with guarantees of security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity in exchange for giving up the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal. However, the document failed to prevent Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted.
The failure of the Budapest Memorandum to fulfill its functions has led to a catastrophic increase in security threats not only for Ukraine but also for other countries and regions, including Europe, the Euro-Atlantic area, Central and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and global peace and security, the statement reads.
"Not providing Ukraine with real, effective security guarantees in the 1990s was a strategic mistake that Moscow exploited. This mistake must be corrected. Ukraine must be provided with clear, legally binding security guarantees that align with its significant contribution to global nuclear disarmament and the maintenance of international peace and security," the document states.
Addressing the United States and the United Kingdom, which signed the Budapest Memorandum, as well as France and China, which joined it, and all states parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "We will not accept any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine's full membership in NATO."
Inviting Ukraine to join NATO would be an effective response to Russian blackmail, dispel the Kremlin's illusions about obstacles to Euro-Atlantic integration, and help restore trust in nuclear disarmament, the diplomatic office added.
The Budapest Memorandum contains assurances of security, not guarantees. Moscow claims it has not "violated" the memorandum because it seized Crimea without using nuclear weapons.
The text states: "The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America reaflim their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations."