Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances
The Budapest Memorandum was signed in 1994 after mutual dialogue by Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Ukraine.
- Under this, Ukraine agreed to renounce nuclear weapons inherited from the Soviet Union. In this context, all nuclear weapons were transferred to Russia for de-commissioning.
- (De-commissioning means deactivating a nuclear reactor or weapon and destroying it safely)
- Ukraine received a guarantee of respect for its independence and sovereignty in exchange for renouncing nuclear weapons.
- For this it had received a politically binding security assurance from the signatory countries. This security assurance guarantees Ukraine its existing borders. However, the meaning of this security assurance was not clarified.
- Recently, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is being seen as a direct violation of the Budapest Memorandum.
Source – The Hindu