Ukraine says it will not accept any alternatives to full membership in NATO

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukraine on Tuesday said that it will not accept any alternatives to Kyiv’s full membership in NATO, pointing to the “failure” of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum which will mark the 30th anniversary since its signing later this week.

“With the bitter experience of the Budapest Memorandum behind us, we will not accept any alternatives, surrogates or substitutes for Ukraine's full membership in NATO,” a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry statement said.

It said that Kyiv is convinced that the only real security guarantee for Ukraine is its membership to NATO, adding that inviting the country to join the alliance will deprive Moscow of its “illusions about the possibility of hindering Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration.”

The statement argued that not providing Ukraine with effective security guarantees in the 1990s was a “strategic mistake” that Russia “exploited” and that the Budapest Memorandum failed to prevent the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

“Failure of the Budapest Memorandum to fulfill its functions has led to a catastrophic increase in security threats not only for Ukraine, but also for other countries and regions, including Europe, the Euro-Atlantic area, Central and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and international peace and security in general,” it further said.

The ministry also defined the Budapest Memorandum as a “monument to short-sightedness in strategic security decision-making.”

“It should serve as a reminder to the current leaders of the Euro-Atlantic community that building a European security architecture at the expense of Ukraine's interests, rather than taking them into consideration, is destined to failure,” it went on to say.

The ministry called on the US and the UK, which are signatories to the Budapest Memorandum, those it said have acceded to it, namely France and China, as well as all countries party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) to support the provision of security guarantees to Ukraine.

“The 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum is a convenient opportunity to take an effective step towards Ukraine's accession to the Washington Treaty,” it added.

The Budapest Memorandum was signed by Ukraine, Russia, the UK, and the US on Dec. 3, 1994, to provide Ukraine, as well as Belarus and Kazakhstan, with security assurances in connection with their accession to the NPT.