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NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly talks with Mariana Budjeryn about the Budapest Memorandum, an agreement guaranteeing security for Ukraine if it gave up nuclear weapons left over after the Soviet Union fell.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
As we follow the latest twists and turns on what’s happening with Ukraine, it’s helpful to add a little context on how a nuclear arsenal fits into the picture. So we’re going to back up now three decades to the early 1990s and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Ukraine suddenly found itself independent and the third-largest nuclear power in the world. Thousands of nuclear arms had been stationed on its soil by Moscow, and they were still there. In the years that followed, Ukraine made the decision to denuclearize completely. In exchange, it would get a security guarantee from the U.S., the U.K. and Russia, known as the Budapest Memorandum.
MARIANA BUDJERYN: The implication was Ukraine would not be let to stand alone and face a threat should it come under one.
KELLY: That is Mariana Budjeryn of Harvard University. As Russia threatens to invade Ukraine again, that agreement is now front and center.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELESNKYY: (Through interpreter) We are initiating the Budapest Memorandum.
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Article URL : https://www.npr.org/2022/02/21/1082172618/why-ukraine-gave-up-its-nukes