Ukraine asks Budapest Memorandum signatories and EU for protection against Russia
During an emergency session of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC), Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has asked the signatory countries of the Budapest Memorandum and the EU for assistance in repelling Russian aggression.
“We turn to our partners according to the Budapest Memorandum, who have taken on themselves the obligation to protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of our state; we turn to the European Union, including the participants of the Normandy Format and EU representatives, in order for us to coordinate our actions to protect Ukraine. And we turn to the pro-Ukrainian world coalition: we must unite our efforts,” the Ukrainian President emphasized.
He also noted that he planned to talk to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the morning of November 26.
Ukraine’s existing borders were guaranteed by the US, UK and Russia according to the Memorandum on security assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons (the Budapest Memorandum) of 1994. In 2014, Russia, despite being a signatory of the memorandum, annexed Crimea and sent forces into eastern Ukraine. Russia claims to be complying with the Budapest Memorandum since it is not threatening to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. The support from the US and UK in protecting Ukraine’s territorial integrity has been limited.
At the start of 2017, Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK Natalia Galibarenko said that London does not consider the Budapest Memorandum a politically or legally binding document.