Appeal of the Ukrainian Association for the Club of Rome (on nuclear non-prolliferation/ про можливий крах режиму нерозповсюдження ядерної зброї)

Звернення Української асоціації Римського клубу

Dear Club of Rome colleagues,

In light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine we would like to bring to your attention an important issue that has been surprisingly overlooked in the global media and public opinion and has been finally brought to light by a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine in a new article written for CNN. At last someone in the West after a long delay has tried to draw attention of the global public to a fundamental issue – Ukraine crisis' impact on nuclear weapons non-proliferation in the world. We would greatly appreciate any sharing and dissemination of this information.

In 1991, the newly independent Ukraine was holding the world's third largest nuclear arsenal, including some 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads. Making a great concession under a huge American pressure, Ukraine agreed to sign in January 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances for Ukraine along with the USA, UK and Russia. Under the terms of the Memorandum, Ukraine agreed to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear state, and to transfer all of the strategic nuclear warheads to Russia for elimination and to dismantle all of the strategic delivery systems on its territory. However, being aware of the existential Russian threat to its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity Ukraine only agreed to give up its nuclear weapons on the condition that the country received security guarantees or assurances from major nuclear powers – the USA, UK and Russia.

If the USA and UK do not stand firmly now by the Budapest Memorandum (apparently reneged by Russia) – and save Ukraine from Russia's blatant aggression and military occupation – it would discredit the very idea of such assurances in international relations and fully ruin the role security assurances could play in defusing nuclear proliferation cases. This would be a very bad sign for Iran, North Korea, India, Pakistan etc. who are surely watching the drama of Russia's invasion of Ukraine with great interest.

We strongly believe that a failure by the international community to secure Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity now will delegitimize any future nuclear deals and seriously undermine nuclear weapons non-proliferation aspirations in the world.

Ukrainian Association for the Club of Rome appeals to you to help us share with colleagues and Western mass-media, and disseminate the above information along with the following link to the CNN article by Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who helped negotiate the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances for Ukraine.

Ukraine crisis' impact on nuclear weapons

CNN International Edition, March 4, 2014

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