Ukraine demands compliance with paragraph 4 of Budapest Memorandum, given nuclear blackmail by Russian Federation

Sunday, 23 October 2022, 23:38

KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — SUNDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2022 23:38

In the light of Russia's false statements alleging that Ukraine is preparing a so-called "dirty bomb", Ukraine invites UN and IAEA monitoring missions and demands compliance with paragraph 4 of the Budapest Memorandum.

Source: Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, on Twitter

Quote: "Every day the Ukrainian army liberates our land from Russian dirt. The idea of a ‘dirty bomb’ is repulsive to us.

We invite UN and IAEA monitoring missions to visit Ukraine.

The world should provide a response to Russia's nuclear blackmail. We demand adherence to paragraph 4 of the Budapest Memorandum."

Note: Paragraph 4 of the Budapest Memorandum states that the signatories reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate UN Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.

The Budapest Memorandum of 1994 provided Ukraine with security assurances in connection with its accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). It was signed by Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. As of 1991, Ukraine had the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world, but our country lost its nuclear status on 2 June 1996.

However, since 2014, the Russian Federation has carried out aggression against Ukraine, occupied its territories, and on 24 February 2022, launched a full-scale invasion.

Background:

On Sunday, the Russian Defence Minister called at least three defence ministers of NATO states (France, Turkey and the United Kingdom) and talked about an alleged Ukrainian "dirty bomb". He also spoke to the US Secretary of Defense.
Earlier, the Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti, known for spreading disinformation and propaganda, reported that Ukraine was preparing to "detonate a nuclear bomb" on its territory in order to accuse Russia of using weapons of mass destruction and turn the whole world against Moscow. This information was simultaneously distributed within an hour by all the usual Russian propaganda media.
Shoigu's statements were condemned by Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, calling them absurd and dangerous.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the world to react as harshly as possible to the next step in the escalation by the Russian Federation.

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