Kiev cannot obtain guarantees under the Budapest Memorandum – German Ambassador

The Budapest Memorandum is a political statement, so it is almost impossible to obtain real guarantees on this document at present.

This was stated by the German ambassador to Ukraine, Anka Feldhusen, in an interview with “Interfax-Ukraine”, published on Tuesday, November 3.

According to her, in 2014, during the beginning of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, no one remembered this memorandum.

“The Budapest Memorandum is a political declaration and nothing more, it is not an international treaty … I mean, it is simply impossible to obtain these guarantees today,” said Anka Feldhusen.

The ambassador also added that she was not sure of the need to expand the current formats to resolve the conflict in Donbass. More important is Ukraine’s support from partners.

“If Ukraine wants to expand the existing formats, I don’t even know if the United States, Britain, Canada would be ready for this. Still, the Normandy format works well, and having a larger circle of participants means more coordination of positions. Find out. a date for a possible meeting now difficult, and if there are 7 or 8 participants, it is even worse, “he shared.

Note that the Budapest Memorandum was signed in December 1994 by the leaders of four countries: Ukraine, Russia, Great Britain and the United States. The signatures were signed by Leonid Kuchma, Boris Yeltsin, John Major, and Bill Clinton, respectively. The essence of the memorandum is that Ukraine renounces nuclear weapons and the other three countries, in return, agree to guarantee Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We will recall that the issue of the Budapest Memorandum was previously submitted by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to the Ukrainian elections on October 25. As explained in the Office of the Head of State, this is due to the fact that updating its provisions can help Ukraine to advance the negotiations on Donbass and Crimea.

As reported, this issue is a veiled request to the United States and Great Britain for, among other things, military assistance to restore sovereignty and territorial integrity. Note that Zelensky traveled to Britain. Where, as he himself admitted, he met with the British intelligence chief Mi-6. And he discussed the issue of “protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

It is also worth remembering that the activation of the Budapest Memorandum in Ukraine was supported by many representatives of the “war party” who did not want to abide by the Minsk agreements.