ZH
IT
DE
Zelenskyy recalls the Budapest Memorandum as he calls for security guarantees before any deal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the United States had put forward a proposal under which Ukraine would make territorial concessions in exchange for security guarantees.
Speaking on Monday, Zelenskyy said Washington was encouraging Ukraine to abandon claims to territories currently occupied by Russia, while offering security guarantees in return.
“Our American friends are preparing security guarantees. But they said: first this exchange of territories, or something like that, and then security guarantees,” Zelenskyy said. “I believe security guarantees must come first.”
The Ukrainian president added that Ukraine is open to compromises, but that does not mean giving up the territories currently under Russian occupation. He argued that any agreement must not give Russia time and opportunity to regroup and return later with another attack.
Zelenskyy again cites the Budapest Memorandum
In his remarks, Zelenskyy also referred to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Under the agreement, Ukraine gave up the Soviet-era nuclear weapons left on its territory after the collapse of the USSR in exchange for security assurances.
“We gave up our nuclear weapons and other weapons. Many planes – dozens. We gave them up and received guarantees of security, sovereignty and independence. In the end, we have none of those weapons, and we have no security guarantees. No one protected our independence,” he said, according to Anadolu Agency.
Zelenskyy has invoked the Budapest Memorandum repeatedly in recent years, arguing that the 1994 deal ultimately failed to provide real protection, and also said any new security guarantees would only be truly strong if they entered into force after approval by the US Congress.
Ukrainian officials say Russia already violated the spirit of the memorandum with the annexation of Crimea in 2014, while the full-scale invasion launched in 2022 demonstrated that written guarantees alone do not deter further aggression.
It’s like Hitler recalling the Versiles treaty.
Do you understand, that the Budapest Memorandum requires Ukraine to be non-aligned? And now, Ukrain is fightimg a war to join NATO.
i assume alignment and to be influenced is not the same for you right? i agree that ukraine should have remained neutral, but they used to have a Moscow puppets as president. I mentioned before that real sovereign countries does not exist, weak poor and small countries like ukraine and hungary will always be under the influence of bigger powers. Thats why l laugh when i hear Hungarians talking about to be sovereign. feel free to join russia. they will provide free energy to you
Influence is one thing. Alignment… well, depends on what level of alignment do you mean exactly?
Your argument is perceftly paralell to this argument: “Your home is not yours, because the nation could just nationalize it.”
I mean, sure, but concludimg from that, that rights don’t ecists is false, because it comes with costs. And being suvereign means being like a hedgehog: yes, you could crush it. But it will hurt, and is simply not worth the costs.
Exactly how individuals have rights against nations.
Ukraine fucked it up, by becoming an existential threat to Russia.
And no cost is big enough to deter the containment of an existential threat.
how come? a country that handled the nukes to russia became an existential threat and super army power suddenly? come on man. (yes, they did not have the codes for the nukes but that does not mean that even with nukes it would become a threat)
Dear Jose,
You need to study carefully the evolution of Eastern Europe in the era 1991-2021, so that your understanding can deepen.
And in studying it, you need to study it from the perspective of Western Europe, The Ukraine, Britain, and The United States, and, yes, Russia.
If you do not study this war from the Russian perspective, you will never understand it, which, currently, you do not.
I urge people to go and read the actual budapest memorandum. Most of the Pro Ukrainian side deliberately misread the security guarnatee part. The actual document CLEARLY states that Ukraine security is Guaranteed PROVIDING russias national security is not threatened. NATO forces and weapons on Russuas border is OBVIOUSLY threat to Russuas national security. Zelensky is just reading a script like the actor he is!
‘Ukraine fucked it up, by becoming an existential threat to Russia.’
In a rare moment, I wish to respectfully disagree with you, Dear Márk.
The Ukraine has a puppet government that does not represent The Ukrainian People, and the so-called Ukrainian Army is not that – but a NATO army – thinly veneered as ‘Ukrainian’.
Those who ‘fucked it up’ are The Western Elite – they deciding many years ago to weaponize The Ukraine against Russia to use for imperialist purposes.
Do not believe me – go look at comments by both French President Macron and former German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, made on this very matter just last year.
Zelensky has no power.
Below him are the murderous Galicians, and abiove him are the American, British, French, and German bureaucracies who serve the interest of The Western Elite.
No, Dear Márk, Zelensky is merely a face with a mouth.
This conflict goes back to the intents of The Western Elite, and it’s designs on Russia in the 1990s.