Did Clinton play role in Ukraine’s disarmament?
The 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, recalled how in 1994 he made his contribution to Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament and expressed regret about it. He suggested that if Kyiv still had nuclear deterrents, Russia would not have invaded Ukraine. This was reported by the Irish publication RTÉ.
“I feel a personal responsibility because I forced the Ukrainians to agree to give up their nuclear weapons. None of them believe that Russia would have invaded if Ukraine still had its own weapons,” said the former head of the United States.
Background
In January 1994, Clinton signed a tripartite agreement with then-presidents of Russia Boris Yeltsin and Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk on the elimination of the strategic nuclear weapons arsenal remaining on the territory of Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Later that year, the United States also joined the corresponding agreement, which contained Russia’s obligation to respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
At the same time, according to Clinton, he knew that unlike his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would not support the agreement on Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
“Putin, seeing an opportunity, violated the agreement and first seized Crimea. And I feel terrible about it because Ukraine is a very important country,” he said.
As former US President Clinton recalls, Ukraine was allegedly afraid to give up its nuclear weapons because it thought it was “the only thing protecting it from expansionist Russia.”
He added that military aid and other support for Ukraine from the West should remain unwavering.
Previously
On March 25, 2023, Putin announced his intention to deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the territory of Belarus, allegedly in response to Britain’s plans to supply Ukraine with depleted uranium munitions.
