December 5, 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of the signing in Budapest of the Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which is also known as the Budapest Memorandum. Having concluded this document with Ukraine a quarter of a century ago, Great Britain, USA and the Russian Federation declared their commitments to respect the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state.

The Budapest Memorandum was an important political and legal step of the young Ukrainian state as a part of international efforts within the global nuclear disarmament process. Ukraine fully complied with its obligations under the Memorandum by having implemented a set of complex nuclear disarmament measures.

At the same time, the relevant political obligations towards our state have not been fulfilled. One of the guarantor states, the Russian Federation, has flagrantly violated its obligations under the Memorandum and the basic principles of international law by occupying a part of the sovereign territory of Ukraine and starting an armed conflict in Donbas. Today, Russia is actively militarizing the territory of occupied Crimea, having already turned it into a powerful military base. Given the strategic location of Crimea, the potential deployment of nuclear weapons by Russia on the territory of Crimea jeopardizes the regime of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the global security system as a whole and, accordingly, requires an adequate response from the international community.

Ukraine values the actions of the United States, the United Kingdom and France, which have been consistently supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty within its internationally recognized borders and have been enhancing this support with practical measures to assist Ukraine in strengthening its defense capabilities and by applying sanctions against the aggressor.

Ukraine continues to consider the Budapest Memorandum as a political and legal basis for ensuring Ukraine's security by the United States, the United Kingdom, as well as France and the People's Republic of China, and demands that Russia fully complies with its obligations under this document.