Ukraine Advocates for NATO Membership, Questions 30-Year-Old Security Agreement
A statement from Kyiv’s foreign ministry expressed regret over the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which Ukraine gave up its weapons after the USSR collapsed.
Advocating for NATO membership, Ukraine criticized an old agreement on Dec. 3 where it surrendered nuclear weapons in exchange for security that it believes never materialized.
Kyiv is seeking an invitation to join the alliance at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers starting on Tuesday, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches its third year with Russia making advances on the battlefield.
Pointing to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs highlighted that Kyiv surrendered one of the largest nuclear arsenals globally in return for security guarantees, including from Moscow, after the Soviet Union’s collapse.
“Today, the Budapest Memorandum serves as a reminder of poor strategic security decision-making,” the ministry stated ahead of the 30th anniversary of the memorandum’s signing on Dec 5.
The ministry emphasized that the agreement should remind current leaders of the Euro-Atlantic community that neglecting Ukraine’s interests while building a European security framework is a recipe for failure.
Since 2014, Ukraine has openly criticized the memorandum when Russia annexed Crimea.
The conflict in the east, resulting in numerous casualties, was temporarily halted under the Minsk agreements, which collapsed in 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine in February of that year.
With the impending three-year anniversary of the war with Russia, Kyiv rejects the idea of returning to negotiations that might lead to a temporary truce.
“We have had enough of the Budapest Memorandum and the Minsk Agreements. We cannot fall into the same trap for a third time. We simply cannot afford to do so,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously.
Kyiv calls for strong security assurances and inclusion in the NATO alliance.
The foreign ministry urged Washington and London, both signatories to the Budapest Memorandum, as well as Paris and Beijing—backers of the agreement—to back providing security guarantees to Ukraine.
“We firmly believe that the only real security guarantee for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression, is Ukraine’s full NATO membership,” the statement said.
Russia views Ukraine joining NATO as a significant security threat, with Russian President Vladimir Putin branding NATO expansion as “provocative.”
New NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte avoided questions about Ukraine potentially joining the alliance at a Brussels press conference on Tuesday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
