Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said that Moscow will not allow Ukraine to have nor develop nuclear weapons.
Moscow is determined to “prevent” any of things from happening which questions the “viability of the Budapest Memorandum” and contradict “Ukraine non-nuclear status.”
in a statement dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Budapest Memorandum she said, “Moscow is firmly determined to prevent any of these scenarios. The Kiev regime acquiring nuclear weapons is completely unacceptable to our country.”
Zakharova made reference to the so-called alarming statements by Kiev officials, “which not only question the viability of the Budapest Memorandum but could also be interpreted as an outright attempt to review Ukraine’s non-nuclear status.”
“Such a destabilizing move would contradict Ukraine’s obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), blatantly undermining the nuclear non-proliferation regime and creating unacceptable risks to international security,” the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed.
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“As Western countries make belligerent statements, take extremely hostile actions against Russia, and continue fueling the confrontation they started in the Ukraine crisis, we must warn of the risk of a direct military clash between nuclear powers, which could potentially have very severe consequences, and send sobering messages to support such warnings.
“Russia does not threaten to use nuclear weapons against anyone, and any statements claiming otherwise are nothing but deliberate lies aimed at Moscow. We conduct our nuclear deterrence policy in the most serious and responsible manner.”
This comes as the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said this Tuesday that Ukraine will refuse all security guarantees that substitutes NATO membership.
The Ministry said in a statement, “Having the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind us, we will not settle for any alternatives, surrogates, or substitutes for Ukraine‘s full membership in NATO,” the Kyiv Independent reports.
In 1994 under the Budapest Memorandum Ukraine gave up their Soviet-era nuclear weapons in exchange for recognition of their borders and security guarantees by Washington and Russia along with other allies.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said, “the US and Great Britain, which signed the Budapest Memorandum … France and China, which joined it,” and it “all the states participating in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons” in supporting Ukraine to join NATO.
Citing multiple diplomats Reuters reported that NATO members are likely to sidestep Ukraine’s call to join the alliance in the looming NATO meeting today and on Wednesday.
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