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Thirty years ago, in the first years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, a significant stockpile of nuclear weapons remained on the newly independent territory of Ukraine. The nation had been part of the USSR until 1991. In the interest of containing nuclear proliferation, an international coalition persuaded Ukraine to give up that nuclear stockpile, in exhange for security guarantees.
This week, to mark the 30th anniversary of that agreement, known as the Budapest Memorandum, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, and president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement highlighting the country’s “courage in envisioning a world free of nuclear weapons.”
“Thirty years ago, on 5 December 1994, at a ceremony in Budapest, Ukraine joined Belarus and Kazakhstan in giving up their nuclear arsenals in return for security guarantees from the United States, the UK, France, China and Russia,” the BBC explained. “Strictly speaking, the missiles belonged to the Soviet Union, not to its newly independent former republics.”
“In a truly prophetic gesture in favor of global peace, Ukraine voluntarily relinquished its nuclear arsenal, the third largest in the world at that time,” Archbishop Broglio wrote. “The Russian Federation, the United States, and the United Kingdom pledged to respect the ‘independence, sovereignty, and the existing borders of Ukraine.’ France and China variously echoed these promises.
“Unfortunately, this pledge was broken by the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the invasion in 2022,” the archbishop noted. “As the bitter conflict rages, with mounting civilian deaths and widespread displacement, we commemorate the time when the Ukrainian people opted for life, liberty, and peace, courageously envisioning a world free of nuclear weapons.”
Ukraine’s response
The anniversary of the Budapest Memorandum came as talk increased of the need for Ukraine to enter into peace talks with Russia. (Photo above shows women at the graves of Ukrainian soldiers on the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at a cemetery in Kharkiv on December 6.)
Advisers to US President-elect Donald Trump have been floating proposals that would involve Ukraine ceding large parts of the country to Russia, according to Reuters. One plan would offer Ukraine U.S. security guarantees, possibly including boosting weapons supplies after an accord is agreed upon.
But any pledge less than full membership in NATO would simply repeat the mistakes of the past 30 years, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement this week.
“Russia’s violation of the Budapest Memorandum set a dangerous precedent that undermined confidence in the very idea of nuclear disarmament,” the ministry said. “Instead, we see active attempts by various countries from the Indo-Pacific region and the Middle East to the Euro-Atlantic area to create or expand their existing nuclear arsenals.
“Not providing Ukraine with real, effective security guarantees in the 1990s was a strategic mistake that Moscow exploited,” the ministry said. “Ukraine must be provided with clear, legally binding security guarantees that align with its significant contribution to global nuclear disarmament and the maintenance of international peace and security. … We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO.”
For his part, Archbishop Broglio cited a letter Pope Francis wrote to the Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine, Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, to mark the 1000th day since the 2022 full-scale invasion.
Said Broglio, “We join our Holy Father in reaffirming his call for peace when he said, ‘It is this word – peace – unfortunately forgotten by the world today, that we would like to hear resound in the families, homes, and squares of dear Ukraine.’”
And today we celebrate...