Clinton: I regret pushing Ukraine to agree on abandoning its nuclear weapons
Former US President Bill Clinton expressed regret over his role in Ukraine’s nuclear disarmament in 1990s.
It is informed by Censor.NЕТ referring to European Truth.
"I feel personally involved because I made them (Ukraine - ed.) agree to give up nuclear weapons. And none of them believe that Russia would have done it (invaded - ed.) if Ukraine still had its weapons," the former US president said.
According to Clinton, he knew that Vladimir Putin, unlike his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, would not support an analog of the Budapest Memorandum, a document that provided "security assurances" to Kyiv in exchange for giving up nuclear weapons.
"They (Ukrainians - ed.) were afraid to give it up (nuclear weapons - ed.) because they thought it was the only thing that protected them from expansionist Russia. Putin, when he saw the opportunity, broke the agreement and first seized Crimea. And I feel terrible about that because Ukraine is a very important country," he emphasized.
The former U.S. President emphasized that the West's support for Ukraine should remain unwavering.
"I think what Mr. Putin did was very wrong, and I think Europe and the United States should continue to support Ukraine. There may come a time when the Ukrainian government believes it can reach a peace agreement that it can live with, but I don't think the rest of us should withdraw our support," Clinton said.
As you know, in January 1994, Clinton signed a trilateral agreement with the then presidents of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, and Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk, to eliminate the arsenal of strategic nuclear weapons that remained on Ukrainian territory after the collapse of the USSR. In December of the same year, the United States also joined the Budapest Memorandum, which included Russia's commitment to respect Ukraine's territorial integrity.
