The Russian Federation has lost credibility at international level and the word of Russian leaders no longer has any value in the great Western chancelleries, historian Ion Negrei stated in a public debate hosted by IPN News Agency. According to him, three decades after the signing of the Budapest Memorandum, which provided for the nuclear disarmament of Ukraine, Russia - one of the guarantor signatory countries - flagrantly violated the provisions of this Memorandum.
The Budapest Memorandum was signed in December 1994 between Ukraine, the U.S., the UK and Russia. The document implied the nuclear disarmament of Ukraine and provided security guarantees for the independence of the Ukrainian state. Through this memorandum, Ukraine renounced Soviet nuclear weapons on its territory, which were transferred to the Russian Federation. One of the points of the Budapest Memorandum stated that: The U.S., Russia and the UK reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine. Historian Ion Negrei noted that by starting the war in Ukraine, Russia flagrantly violated the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum.
“Ukraine was not only attacked with conventional weapons and threatened with nuclear weapons, but the nuclear weapon that was ceded by Ukraine today is deployed on the territory of Ukraine, in Crimea. Moreover, it is brought to the border with Ukraine, on the territory of Belarus. And so, the security that should have been ensured to Ukraine is not respected,” stated Ion Negrei.
According to the historian, Russia took advantage of Ukraine’s then lack of diplomatic and military experience by signing a memorandum, not a treaty of guarantees. From a legal point of view, the memorandum does not stipulate sanctions in case of non-compliance by signatories.
“The Budapest Memorandum is elevated to the status of a document accepted by the United Nations. That is, internationally it has the highest status. But in terms of content, it is a memorandum. The memorandum is not a guarantee treaty. The memorandum does not require ratification. The memorandum is signed and takes effect at the time of signature. If this had been a treaty of guarantees, then the ratification procedure would have passed through Parliaments and it would have been a document with a different status. The memorandum stipulates a problem but provides no other guarantees. The treaty would have specified mutual obligations and sanctions would have been imposed Ukraine’s lack of diplomatic and military experience, as well as the rich experience of the Soviet Union in a diplomatic sense, which is now used by Russia, had a say here,” stated the historian.
According to Ion Negrei, by attacking Ukraine, Russia lost credibility at foreign level and is now treated as an aggressive and unpredictable state, which does not respect international law and fundamental human rights.
“Today nobody believes Russia. If previously Russia still had credibility internationally, today no one believes the words of the leaders of the Russian Federation. Instead of honesty and honor, there is lying. Today, in Western chancelleries, they talk about the Russian lie, that is, about Russian propaganda. Propaganda contains elements of offensive, disinformation, circumvention of responsibility, causing of uncertainty. Russia proved to be a leader in this area and uses the lie in official policy, which is extremely dangerous as no stability is offered to the world and international relations. Today Russia seeks to build this concept of “new world order” on propaganda elements and not on respect for peoples’ rights and human rights,” explained the vice-president of “Alexandru Mosanu” Association of Historians of the Republic of Moldova.
The public debate entitled “Failure of the Budapest Memorandum” was the 27th installment of IPN’s project “Impact of the Past on Confidence and Peace Building Processes” which is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation of Germany.
