Four days after the Russian-Ukrainian war, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday ordered his military command to put Russia's nuclear deterrent on "combat alert" in response to what he called aggressive statements by NATO members and economic sanctions against Moscow. Putin has not identified the targets of the nuclear threat force, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kooleba accused Putin of deciding to put Russia's nuclear deterrent on alert in order to pressure Ukraine to hold talks with Moscow, but Kiev will not give in.
Ukraine's foreign minister said Putin declared Russia's nuclear deterrent on alert in order to force Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow, but Kiev would not give in. In the face of Putin's nuclear threat, does the former nuclear power Ukraine have a countermeasure? According to a previously signed agreement document by Ukraine, the country should be subject to multiple nuclear protections.
Budapest Security Memorandum
In fact, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine became the third largest country to possess nuclear weapons due to the large number of weapons left by the Soviet Union in Ukraine. On 5 December 1994, the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom signed a diplomatic document known as the Budapest Memorandum of Understanding on Security Assurances at a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, held with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, respectively, in Budapest, Hungary, with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, respectively, an informal international treaty aimed at resolving the nuclear weapons left over from the former Soviet Union after the independence of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1994 and handed over nuclear weapons to Russia.
Signatories to the memorandum, which included then-US President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister John Major, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Ukrainian President Kuchma, Belarusian President Lukashenko and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, focused primarily on the denuclearization of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan and on "respecting and refraining from threats to the independence and sovereignty of the existing territories of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, including through the use of force.".
The memorandum states that Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom undertake that, in return for Ukraine 's (or Belarus, or Kazakhstan's) accession to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the completion of the transfer of their nuclear arsenals to Russia, will:
- Respect for the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine within its existing borders.
- Ukraine will not carry out any threat or use of force.
- Avoid using economic pressure on Ukraine to influence its policies.
- If a nuclear weapon is used against Ukraine, seek the approval of the UN Security Council.
- Do not use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
- If you have questions about these commitments, consult with other stakeholders.
The memorandum was formally transmitted by the four signatories to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on 7 December 1994 for transmission to the General Assembly of the United Nations.
On December 4, 2009, the date of the expiration of the Start of Strategic Arms Treaty (START), the United States and Russia issued a joint statement reaffirming that the security assurances in the Budapest Memorandum of Understanding (BMoU) signed with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan remain in force after that date.
Some commentators said that this meant that if the Russian army invaded Ukraine, the United States and Britain would not have stood by, but Russia's invasion of Crimea in 2014 was believed to have destroyed the memorandum.