On
Friday, December 5, on the 20th anniversary of signing the Budapest Memorandum Prime Minister of
Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk urged the countries-signatories
of the Memorandum to undertake joint decisive actions to oblige Russia to fulfill her commitments under this
document.
The
Prime Minister said that 20 years ago had been signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, "US President Bill Clinton, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister of Great Britain John Major signed the obligations that none of their
weapons would ever be used against Ukraine."
"Today, Russian tanks, artillery and BUKs are on the Ukrainian territory. Russia invaded and annexed by force Crimea. It is a large-scale war waged against
Ukraine with the use of military, economic, energy and information means,"
he underlined.
The
Prime Minister said that the Budapest Memorandum "as well as
the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act and many other binding documents for Russia was brutally violated": "Russia was the only country-signatory to the Budapest
Memorandum, which refused to carry out consultations on the violation of the Memorandum as suggested by Ukraine and our Western partners."
"I am not to quote German Chancellor Bismarck regarding the value of contracts with Russia. Today's Heads of European governments have the sad opportunity to verify the validity of assessments of its predecessor from the 19th century. However, we will remind Russia that the whole civilized
world today lives according to the
rules of the 21st century. And we will continue to demand from Russia: Stop violating international law. Adhere to your international obligations, which were signed by you. Observe the Budapest Memorandum, observe the Minsk deal and pull back your
weapons and terrorists from the Ukrainian land," Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated.
"On today's anniversary we are urging again the countries-signatories of the Budapest Memorandum: we need joint decisive
action to oblige Russia to implement her obligations under this
document. It is our common responsibility," the Prime Minister
of Ukraine stressed.
