Budapest Memorandum

Budapest Memorandum
on Security Assurances
Memorandum on Security Assurances in connection with the Republic of Belarus'/Republic of Kazakhstan's/Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
U.S. President Clinton, Russian President Yeltsin, and Ukrainian President Kravchuk after signing the Trilateral Statement in Moscow on 14 January 1994
Signed5 December 1994 (1994-12-05)
LocationBudapest, Hungary
Original
signatories
Languages
Full text at Wikisource

The Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances comprises three substantially identical political agreements signed at the OSCE conference in Budapest, Hungary, on 5 December 1994, to provide security assurances by its signatories relating to the accession of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The three memoranda were originally signed by three nuclear powers: Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom.[1] China and France gave somewhat weaker individual assurances in separate documents.[2]

The memoranda, signed in Patria Hall at the Budapest Convention Center with US Ambassador Donald M. Blinken amongst others in attendance,[3] prohibited Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom from threatening or using military force or economic coercion against Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, "except in self-defence or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations." As a result of other agreements and the memorandum, between 1993 and 1996, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine gave up their nuclear weapons.[4][5]

  1. ^ Paull, John (2023). War in Ukraine: Treaty to Treachery Archived 10 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine,   in Proceedings of Russia-Ukraine War: Consequences for the World, 3rd International Scientific and Practical Internet Conference, March 2-3, 2023. WayScience, Dnipro, Ukraine (pp. 18-20)
  2. ^ Vasylenko, Volodymyr (15 December 2009). "On assurances without guarantees in a 'shelved document'". The Day. Archived from the original on 21 August 2021. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  3. ^ "1994 Public Papers 2146 - Remarks at the Denuclearization Agreements Signing Ceremony in Budapest". Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II). 5 December 1994. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  4. ^ Harahan, Joseph P. (2014). "With Courage and Persistence: Eliminating and Securing Weapons of Mass Destruction with the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs" (PDF). DTRA History Series. Defense Threat Reduction Agency. pp. 101–134, 186. ASIN B01LYEJ56H. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  5. ^ "Memorandum on security assurances in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons". treaties.un.org. 5 December 1994. Archived from the original on 2 April 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2022.