The violation of the international agreements by Russia and Budapest Memorandum in the first place created the conditions when such agreements cannot guarantee peace and non-proliferation of the nuclear weapons in the world. Foreign Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin claimed this at the session of the UN Security Council on September 21 as Ukrinform reported.
‘When Ukraine voluntarily eliminated third-largest nuclear arsenal in 90-s, we were assured in the supremacy of such international principles as the inviolability of the international borders, territorial integrity and sovereignty’, he noted at the discussion dedicated to the non-proliferation of the weapons of mass annihilation.
According to Klimkin, Ukraine still highly appreciate these principles. ‘But we realized that they are not sacred for everyone. We were too naive’, he noted.
He emphasized that ‘the violation of the international law, including in the sphere of the non-proliferation is one of the most important threats to the international peace and security’.
Klimkin noted that the usage of the weapons of mass annihilation is only one of the most noticeable demonstrations that endanger the entire system of the international law.
More than three years ago Russia implemented the act of military aggression against Ukraine. But it also demonstrated that ‘solemn promise of the nuclear state to respect independence and sovereignty of Ukraine’ is worth nothing.
‘Stories of Russia that it did not violate the Budapest Memorandum because the nuclear weapon was not used against my country are one more cynical manipulation of the facts’, Klimkin noted.
In the context of this, he emphasized that it means only to encourage the regimes that strive for strengthening of their nuclear potential and it certainly will influence the global architecture of the non-proliferation’.