Ukraine initiates immediate high-level consultations with Budapest Memorandum signatories

That’s according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukrinform reports.

On February 21, on the instructions of President Volodymyr Zelensky and in accordance with Art. 6 of the Memorandum of Security Assurances in connection with Ukraine's accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (Budapest Memorandum) of December 5, 1994, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine sent formal requests for immediate high-level consultations between Ukraine and Budapest Memorandum’s signatories and guarantors of Ukraine's security in relation to urgent moves to reduce tensions and ensure Ukraine's security.

The request for consultations maintains that Russia continues to violate its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum, including the 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 except in self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.” (Paragraph 2 of the Memorandum).

The request also notes a breach of commitment to " to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a nonnuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.” (Paragraph 4 of the Memorandum).

"Depending on these consultations and their results, Ukraine will decide on further measures to ensure its own security in accordance with its national interests in the face of Russian aggression, international law, and national legislation," the Foreign Ministry said.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off a decree recognizing the independence of the self-proclaimed entities in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN, Serhiy Kyslytsia, reminded that Ukraine had appealed to the nations that signed the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Guarantees in exchange for its renunciation of nuclear weapons to gather immediately for consultations.

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