Ukraine, in ’91 third nuclear power: when and why denuclearization

“Ukraine is the only nation in history that has given up on a nuclear arsenal, which in 1994 was the third largest in the world, with guarantees from the US, UK and Russia. Where are these guarantees? We are now bombed. and killed “. Thus, as the Russian army began its invasion of Ukraine last Thursday, Ukrainian MP Alexey Goncharenko, speaking to Fox News, recalled that Kiev – contrary to what was suggested by Vladimir Putin and his propaganda machine which now insinuates that Kiev is allegedly preparing a ‘dirty bomb’ to be used against Russia – it chose the path of denuclearization 30 years ago. Read also After obtaining independence from the USSR, on December 1, 1991, Ukraine found itself in the position of the third largest nuclear power in the world, with about 3 thousand tactical nuclear warheads and 2 thousand strategic warheads, according to the counts of the Federation of American Scientists. Virtually a third of the Soviet nuclear arsenal remained in the territory that has now become Ukrainian, but Kiev had only physical control of these weapons, while operational control, that is, centralized control over nuclear codes, remained in Moscow. The situation led to intense negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, the US and the UK which resulted in the signing of the so-called Budapest Memorandum in 1994. On the basis of this agreement, Kiev – which then acceded to the Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-state nuclear, agreed to dismantle nuclear arsenals and deliver systems – such as fighters and missiles – in exchange for financial assistance from the West. And guarantees from all other nuclear powers, including Russia, that they would respect “its independence and sovereignty and existing borders.” The agreement refers precisely to the commitment by these powers to “avoid threatening and use force against Ukraine’s territorial integrity and political independence and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defense. “Putin’s Russia was declared in violation of the Memorandum as early as 2014 at moment of the invasion and then annexation of Crimea. In response, the Russian president then stated that he considered the agreement no longer valid. And now to justify the new aggression on Ukraine for days, together with its propaganda machine, it continues to argue that Ukraine still has Soviet nuclear technology and that it wants to use it to create atomic weapons, maybe dirty bombs to use. against Russia. “It is a great tragedy that Putin is so caught up in his demands that he does not remember how much we have worked together, Americans, Russians and Ukrainians, to ensure that the dismantling of the Soviet nuclear arsenal did not lead to the creation of three new powers nuclear weapons, “Rose Gottemoeller, who was one of the New Start negotiators, told the New York Times in recent days.