“Ukrainians were afraid to give it up because they thought it was the only thing protecting them from an expansionist Russia.” In an interview with Irish channel RTÉ and published on Tuesday, Bill Clinton suggests that Moscow would not have invaded Ukraine if kyiv still had its nuclear deterrent.
“I am personally concerned that I got (Ukraine) their agreement to give up their nuclear weapons. And none of them think that Russia would have pulled this trick if Ukraine still had its weapons,” the former US president said.
Respect the borders of Ukraine
In 1994 he participated in the signing of the Budapest Memorandums, which deal with three former Soviet Socialist Republics: Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. Regarding the latter, Bill Clinton and the Russian, Boris Yeltsin, and Ukrainian, Leonid Kravchuk, presidents sign an agreement to eliminate the nuclear arsenal still stationed on Ukrainian soil after the fall of the USSR, in a context of denuclearization of the world at a global level. world. end of the Cold War.
The Budapest Memorandums also provide guarantees of territorial integrity: Russia commits to respect Ukraine’s independence, as well as its sovereignty and borders.
“I’m so sorry”
“I knew that President Putin did not support President Yeltsin’s agreement never to interfere with Ukraine’s territorial borders, an agreement he made because he wanted Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons,” Bill Clinton said.
“Ukrainians were afraid to give it up because they thought it was the only thing protecting them from an expansionist Russia,” he adds.
“When it suited him, President Putin broke the contract and seized Crimea. I am very sorry, because Ukraine is a very important country, ”he also laments, adding that Western support for kyiv must remain“ unwavering ”.
Source: BFM TV
