Miroslava Gongadze, the widow of a disappeared journalist living in the United States, following conversations with American diplomats, published on her blog information that was unpleasant for official Kyiv regarding the Budapest Memorandum, the document that was signed when Ukraine renounced nuclear weapons.
Gongadze clarifies that the Budapest Memorandum was written by the Americans in such a way that it does not guarantee any protection for Ukraine.
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“I asked Talbot and Pifer today why the United States insisted that Ukraine give up nuclear weapons, and Russia was allowed to have them? They admitted that in the early 90s there were discussions in the American government about who would remain with the weapons, and the idea that Baker defended, that only Russia would have control over the nuclear arsenal, prevailed.
They also admitted that the Budapest Memorandum was not put up for ratification in Congress, fearing that it would not pass, and they also insisted that the word “assurances” and not “guarantees” be used in the document, because they were afraid that guarantees might entail obligations , as Article 5 of the NATO Charter.
So the document remained a declaration, and not a law,” Gongadze said.