Source: Russian MFA | Original document retouched by Verity Base

Eight years ago we all witnessed the tragic events in the centre of Kiev. They reached a peak with the bloody coup that shook the entire country, led to Crimea’s secession from Ukraine, and the still ongoing armed conflict in Donbass. Ukraine was hit by a large-scale crisis. Mainly, it was provoked and actively supported by Western countries, primarily the United States.

Everything that happened in Ukraine later can only be described as endless political chaos, lawlessness and rampant ultra-nationalism. Active attempts to distort the truth and conceal the facts behind groundless accusations were made at the same time.

Common for Modern Ukraine are:

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

The numerous human rights violations and war crimes of the Kiev regime, committed since the coup d’etat of 2014 has been well documented, including by investigative journalists, based on objective data and first-hand witness reports.

Unsurprisingly, for years all this information went purposefully unnoticed by the global mainstream media, actively blocked from the public eye in the Western nations.

The Kiev regime government is based on a bizarre combination of Russophobic policies to persecute the Russian speakers, create an atmosphere of hatred toward the Russian culture and Russians, glorify Nazi collaborators, including those recognized as such at the Nuremberg Trials, who have become official heroes of modern Ukraine and whose biographies are studied in schools and universities, as well as to proclaim the European and Euro-Atlantic policy of Ukraine (the latter is laid down in the preamble to the country’s Constitution).

This ideology is implemented violently by killing, beating, and torturing inhabitants of Donbass, opposition politicians, and journalists through numerous Ukrainian “Death Squads”, censorship and mass violations of freedom of speech imposed in the country, banning the dissident media, arrests of journalists, persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, etc. A resident of the Kuibyshev district of Donetsk, the head of shop No. 22, which built this district back in Soviet times, talks about Ukrainian shelling. According to him, by April 2015 about 60 people had already been killed in the area as a result of shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a factory, several substations and boiler houses had been completely destroyed.

A great many civilians died. Right now we are standing in front of the house number 16. There were absolutely no military installations here. There were just ordinary people here… They came, as I call them, the destroyers of all things living and dead. Here is a copy of what Hitler said. Detroy it all. So that people would sit in their basements. It is, as Poroshenko says, for their children to study and our children to sit in basements. This is what he did, now all we do is just sit in our basements.

CHILDREN OF DONBASS SHELLED TO DEATH

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights report over 14’000 people were killed during the conflict in Donbass. Many fell victim to the criminal shelling of residential areas by the Ukrainian military and neo-Nazi units.

Among the victims are at least 152 children…

#DonbassTragedy

GENOCIDE IN DONBASS

Photograph of a mass grave from the website of the Investigative Committee of Russia

This is one of many mass graves – they are called sporadic burials – of the victims of the Ukrainian aggression. According to different estimates, there could be several dozen of these. Over three hundred bodies of civilians have been exhumed. All of them are victims of the indiscriminate shelling by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

These are the memorials to the victims installed in the People’s Republics of Donbass. The gravestones set in memory of the victims of the Ukrainian army: there are names on them. The first two are the monuments to children.

Thousands of eyewitness testimonies have been officially recorded. Some of these are particularly indicative, for they are about child victims.

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In the evening of July 6, 2014, AFU troops opened machinegun fire on the car owned by the Mamedkhanov family in the town of Belozyorskoye. This resulted in the death of the 12-year-old daughter of Irina and Ruslan Mamedkhanov.

On August 13, 2014, Ukrainian aircraft opened fire at a children’s beach in Donbass, where families with children were sunbathing.

On April 3, 2021, Ukrainian forces violated ceasefire and shelled at the outskirts of the Donetsk Region. The AFU used heavy weapons and drones against populated areas. A projectile exploded in the backyard of a rural house in the village of Aleksandrovka, killing a four-year child and wounding his 66-year-old grandmother.

#WarCrimes

The systematic shellings of civilian infrastructure and residential areas, by the armed forces of Ukraine -is beyond any doubt and have been recorded in detail, by both the local residents and journalists, as well as the OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine.

The shellings of civilians continued for 8 long years

Civilians of Donbass Killed by the Ukrainian military

On July 27, 2014, the Ukrainian armed forces shelled the central streets of the city of Gorlovka, Donbass with grad multiple rocket launchers. As a result, 20 civilians were killed including four children. That day became a mournful date and entered the city’s history as bloody Sunday. During the shelling, 23-year-old Kristina Zhuk and her 10-month-old daughter, whom Kristina was holding in her arms while trying to escape the attack, were both killed. After her death Kristina Zhuk came to be known as Gorlovka’s Madonna.

GENOCIDE IN DONBASS

O2.O5.2O14

The anniversary of one of the most tragic episodes in Ukraine’s internal conflict is marked on May 2. That day Ukrainian Nazi thugs committed a bloody massacre against those who dared to speak out against the maidan coup d’état, the new authorities’ policies and raging aggressive nationalism. These people were corralled into the house of the unions which was then set on fire.

Dozens Killed – Odessa Massacre

Those who tried to escape the blaze were killed on the spot. Dozens of Odessa residents were burned alive with hundreds more wounded. Regretfully, this crime, alongside many other acts carried out by Ukrainian neo-Nazi’s, were never investigated, neither did any of the perpetrators face any punishment.

GLORIFICATION OF NAZISM

A school in Dobromil (Lvov oblast) is named after Stepan Bandera, the leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists

A memorial in Nemirov (Vinnitsa Oblast) dedicated to the staff of the Ukrainian auxiliary police force who were responsible for persecuting the Jews

A Ukrainian compatriot’s football club in France was named after Stepan Bandera

A bas-relief in Kalush (Ivano-Frankovsk oblast) in memory of Yury Garasimov, a Nazi collaborator and officer of the 14th Waffen SS “Galichina” Division

MANIFESTATIONS OF
NEO-NAZISM AND RADICALISM

In July 2021, a draft resolution on the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the creation of the UPA was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. Among other things, it was proposed to return the title of Hero of Ukraine to Bandera. The scale and frequency of neo-Nazi acts in Ukraine are growing and becoming more aggressive in nature. The followers of the Nazi ideology feel total impunity and even support from the authorities.

Stepan Bandera Trident (Tryzub)
Tryzub was the backbone of the Right Sector association of Radical Rightwing Organisations, established during the Euro Maidan in November – December 2013.

Misanthropic Division (MD)
An international combat organisation. A mostly Ukrainian neo-Nazi network with Nazi insignia (Swastika, SS and Wehrmacht uniforms etc.) operating under the slogans of Heil Hitler! And Death to Russia!

UNA-UNSO
A party of “Integral Nationalism” and anti-Semitism, that became part of the Right Sector political party, which was formed using the same platform.

NAZI ORGANISATIONS IN UKRAINE

AZOV SPECIAL OPERATIONS REGIMENT

The so-called Azov Special Operations Regiment, subordinated to the Ukrainian National Guard, is one of the most famous nationalist units in today’s Ukraine. It was formed from among nationalist-minded volunteers in May 2014 in Mariupol.

Activists from Maidan
Self-Defence units who were actively involved in the February 2014 coup in Ukraine.

Members of Racist and neo-Nazi organisations -called the Social National Assembly and the Patriot of Ukraine. These Extremist Organisations are banned in Russia.

Human Rights Activists have recorded numerous crimes perpetrated by Azov fighters, including looting, summary executions of civilians and rapes

PERSECUTION OF THE UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

Kiev regime continues to pursue a policy of persecution of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (the UOC, the largest religious organization of Ukraine, in whose jurisdiction, according to media reports, there are more than 12 thousand parishes), which involves special services and the media controlled by authorities. Representatives of local authorities often take part in the seizures or authorize them. The authorities tacitly encourage members of Ukrainian rightwing extremist organizations to implement this course.

CRACKDOWN ON FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, BELIEF AND RELIGION

A host of laws have been adopted which impose restrictions on the UOC and facilitate the process by which congregations can change their denominational affiliation. On April 4, 2021, radicals seized a church in the village of Pripuni (Chernivtsi region).

On May 9, 2021 in the village of Zabolotye (Rivne region) a church was seized by adherents of the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” with the support of district deputies.
There have been reports of many incidents in which bishops of the UOC have been summoned for “conversations” and interrogations by the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine), detained under various pretexts, subjected to searches.

2016-2019 | A significant number of incidents were recorded involving the violent seizure of churches, acts of vandalism, arson, robberies, damage to church property, physical violence, and intimidation of clergy members and worshippers, often with the participation of radicals.

On December 12, 2020 there was an attempt to take over a church in the village of Mikhailcha (Chernivtsi region) by beating in the doors.

At the suggestion of the authorities, a campaign was organized in the Ukrainian media to discredit the UOC, including groundless political accusations leveled at priests and church congregations.

At the suggestion of the authorities, a campaign was organized in the Ukrainian media to discredit the UOC, including groundless political accusations leveled at priests and church congregations.

International monitoring organizations, including the OHCHR and the OSCE SMM, have repeatedly drawn attention to the negative overall trends and individual high-profile incidents involving the forced transfer of churches and religious congregations from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church to the Neo-Nazi supported non-canonical “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”

ETHNIC AND LINGUISTIC DISCRIMINATION

An integral part of the official Kiev’s policy regarding ethnic minorities, their forceful Ukrainisation, is how they discriminate against a considerable part of the population in terms of language, including the gross violation of the Russian-speaking community’s rights.

Since 2017, the country’s legislation has pursued the policy of prohibiting the use of any language except Ukrainian in the government services sector, in education and the media.

In September 2017, a law on education was passed according to which Ukrainian was to be the only language used in schools, colleges & universities. Minority languages (Russian not included!) could be used in pre-school and primary school education. This legislation violates the language rights of millions of Ukrainian citizens.

In April 2019, the law on supporting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language was passed and mandates the use of Ukrainian in all areas of social life except in private communication and religious rites.

The law also envisages preferential treatment of native peoples as well as for European union languages. Thus Russian, which is used in everyday communication by a majority of the country’s population, suffers from double discrimination.

In January 2022, article 25 of the law of Ukraine “on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” designed to regulate the use of the state language in the field of print media came into force.

PERSECUTION OF
INDEPENDENT MEDIA & JOURNALISTS

Most assaults on journalists in Ukraine are directly caused by their independent position. Oftentimes the assaults are arranged and conducted by “death squadron” members as well as other Ukrainian extremist and pro-Nazi organisations under direct orders from the Ukrainian authorities.

An indicative feature of present-day Ukraine is the fact that even when a murderer’s guilt has been completely proven, journalists and Verkhovna Rada deputies stage a broad campaign for the person’s release without ever contesting his or her guilt.

Ruslan Kotsaba

Journalist Ruslan Kotsaba has suffered a number of assaults without any perpetrators ever being brought to account. That the Ukrainian “s-14” “death squadron” is used to intimidate the journalist, a fact that has never been denied, is well known.

Oles’ Buzina

Famous journalist and writer Oles Buzina was killed in Kiev on April 16, 2015.

He openly advocated friendship between Ukraine and Russia, supported the federalisation of Ukraine, its independence and that Ukraine’s culture be bilingual, along with supporting the comprehensive development of both the Russian and Ukrainian languages.

Even though the fact of his murder has been established and the perpetrators identified, the killers have been at large for five years. Indicatively, president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky refused to meet Buzina’s mother following her appeal in 2019.

In 2017-2019 alone, the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine recorded

250

Assaults on journalists

There has been no progress in the investigations of the murders of Anatoly Klyan, Anton Voloshin, Igor Kornelyuk, Andrei Stenin, Andrea Rocchelli, Sergei Dolgov, Vyacheslav Veremiya, Pavel Sheremet etc.

Criminal prosecutions are often used as a way of putting pressure on inconvenient journalists. For example, since 2015 I. Guzhba, the editor in chief of the independent on-line journal strana.ua has been the target of multiple prosecutions, and as a result was forced to leave the country and seek asylum in Austria. A. Medinsky, a former soldier and the owner of the open Ukraine news agency, and the independent journalists Y. Lukashin and V. Skachko have all been subjected to criminal investigations. Among those who have been held in pre-trial detention, generally with no right to bail, are d. Vasilets (who has been under house arrest since 2018), V. Muralist (under round-the-clock house arrest since 2018), and P. Volkov (acquitted on all charges in March 2019).

Citing Violations of Ukrainian law, the authorities regularly take Restrictive Measures against “inconvenient” Media Organizations on a regular basis.

On February 2, 2021 the national television news channels 112ukraine, news one and ZIK, belonging to T. Kozak, a deputy from the opposition platform – for life party and an associate of V. Medvechuk, were banned from broadcasting in accordance with an order issued by the president, Vladimir Zelensky.

These television channels were taken off air for having dared to broadcast views. That differed from the official line. In April the Kiev authorities de-platformed those channels on the internet as well.

As a result of such actions, millions of Ukrainian citizens were restricted in their right to access information.

MYROTVORETZ “PEACEKEEPER” WEBSITE

In January 2019 the Myrotvoretz Website sank to a new low – included Two 14 old boys as “Enemies of Ukraine”

The crackdown of the Ukrainian authorities on the law-abiding independent media sphere, is reflected in the notorious website Myrotvorets, a resource that openly violates the right to privacy, and which operates freely in the country.

It publishes illegally collected personal data of Ukrainian and foreign nationals labelled as “separatists” or “enemies of Ukraine”, including reporters, politicians, cultural figures and even Russian diplomats. Currently, this online resource is actively used by Ukrainian intelligence services, as well as radical nationalist organizations to put psychological pressure on those whom they accuse of “separatism and treason against the homeland”.

The most egregious case was the publication in 2015 of personal data of writer and journalist Oles Buzina, including the address of residence, since he was killed shortly after this information had been posted on the website. In addition, a number of media representatives announced the freezing of their bank accounts due to the fact that they were included in the list of “enemies of Ukraine”.

FALSIFYING HISTORY

In no area is the Kiev government more consistent than in its attempts to rewrite history and in its aggressive propagation of neo-Nazism. It is promoting a distorted version of history, in which the Ussr’s role in and contribution to the victory over Nazism are deliberately diminished in order to destroy the historic memory of the Ukrainian people concerning the events of the great patriotic war.

In his video address in 2021, the Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky asked citizens to “avoid high emotions and keep a level head” when marking victory day.

As part of the decommunization drive, over the last five years 52,000 place names have been changed, 987 villages towns and cities have been renamed and more than 2,500 Soviet-era monuments have been taken down.

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky on Russian citizens put on the sanctions list, 2021: You call them people, do you? Interesting… There are those who represent the human race, and not all representatives of the human race are people. I believe that some of them are species. I am not referring to everyone, and this is my opinion. If I were wrong, we would not have law enforcement, and all people would live in peace.

President of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko on Donbass residents, 2014: We will have jobs, but they won’t. We will have pensions, but they won’t. We will pay out child benefits, but they won’t get them. Our children will go to schools and kindergartens, while their children will sit in their basements. This is precisely the way in which we are going to win this war.

Minister of Culture of Ukraine Yevgeny Nishchuk, 2016: The situation in the east and the south is a psychic abyss. Moreover, if we look at the genetic origins of the people in Zaporozhye, in Donbass, the population there was brought in from the outside. There is no one there genetically attached to this land. These people were intentionally brought there.

Ostap Drozdov speaking on Ukraine’s Channel Five on Donbass residents, 2019: When I was a child, I used to love going to the zoo to look at the animals there, especially the hoofed mammals. I’m too old for that now, and for me, I have all the answers now, crossed all the t’s and dotted the i’s.

Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky about residents of the DPR and the LPR (Donbass), 2021: I think that if you live in the territory of Donbass today, the temporarily occupied territory, and if you think that ‘our cause is just, we should join Russia, we are Russians,’ then it is a great mistake to remain in Donbass. It is high time you left and looked for a place for yourself in the Russian federation.

Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Irina Farion, famous for her calls to destroy Russia and Russians (Investigative Committee of Russia even opened a criminal case in this regard) 2018: If Ukrainians kicked every ‘Moscow-mouthed’ ruffian in the jaw, the war would have ended in victory long ago.

Former Right Sector leader, People’s Deputy of Ukraine Dmitry Yarosh Adviser to the Chief of Staff, 2014: We are making a stand against Russians in Crimea. This is because a Russian will never glorify Bandera, or respect our Greek- Catholic faith, our insurgent history, or our language. A Russian will always respect and love Russia. He cannot be assimilated. Therefore, for Ukraine to prosper, the Russian people should be wiped out or driven out of Crimea.

Former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ex-Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Former Acting President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov, 2018: Nuclear disarmament was our historic mistake.

Former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Andrey Paruby, 2018: I am myself a huge fan of direct democracy. Incidentally, let me tell you that the greatest man who practiced direct democracy was Adolf Aloisiyevich (Hitler) in the 1930s.

It publishes illegally collected personal data of Ukrainian and foreign nationals labelled as “separatists” or “enemies of Ukraine”, including reporters, politicians, cultural figures and even Russian diplomats. Currently, this online resource is actively used by Ukrainian intelligence services, as well as radical nationalist organizations to put psychological pressure on those whom they accuse of “separatism and treason against the homeland”.

WEAPONIZATION OF UKRAINE BY NATO STATES

Starting from the beginning of the year to the end of the second decade of February, nearly fifty military transport aircraft from various countries – USA, Great Britain, Canada, Poland, and Lithuania – landed in Ukraine. In a joint statement of Ukrainian Defence Minister A. Reznikov and the head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces V. Zaluzhny on February 14 this year, it was noted that last month Ukraine received 2,000 tons of advanced weapons, ammunition and protective equipment.

In December 2021, U.S. President Biden approved a $200 million package of additional military assistance for Ukraine. It includes anti-tank systems, grenade launchers, firearms, a large amount of ammunition and other equipment. Overall, according to the State Department, since 2014 the U.S. has committed $2.7 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.

London has recently transferred over 2,000 anti‑tank weapons to Kiev

The Canadian Defence Ministry announced its intention to transfer pistols, sniper rifles, machine guns, as well as 1.5 million ammo cartridges to Ukraine.

The government of Poland approved the delivery of MANPADS, ammunition and drones to Ukraine.

On February 18 this year, the Government of the Netherlands decided to transfer to Ukraine 3,000 helmets, 2,000 bullet-proof vests, 30 metal detectors, two portable underwater sapper robots, 100 sniper rifles and 30,000 ammunition cartridges, five counter-battery radars and two radar locators for monitoring the situation on the battlefield.

On February 10 this year, during her visit to Kiev, Lithuanian Prime Minister I. Šimonytė announced the delivery of a batch of Stinger MANPADS to Ukraine free of charge (according to available estimates, there may be 10 sets of 5‑7 rounds each), as well as an increase in the number of Lithuanian military instructors in Ukraine.

In October 2021, during interdepartmental consultations of the Ministries of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and France, contracts were signed for the supply to Kiev of object surveillance systems, non-lethal ammunition of various assortment and simulators for training UAV operators.

Canada, the US, France, the UK and other Western countries have helped train far-right extremists in Ukraine, a report by the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at George Washington University revealed in September 2021.

Kiev’s withdrawal from the package of measures for the implementation of the Minsk agreements

The Ukrainian side has in fact pulled out of the document signed by the participants of the contact group on additional measures to strengthen the ceasefire of 22 July 2020 (entered into force on 27 July 2020), which included the ban on offensive, reconnaissance and sabotage operations, the use of any types of aerial vehicles, sniper fire, the deployment of heavy weapons in and around settlements.

(p1) In the seven years since it was agreed, more than two dozen ceasefires agreed within the Contact Group, including “comprehensive and indefinite” (in force since 21 July 2019), have not been observed by the Ukrainian side. Since the beginning of this year alone, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission has recorded more than 10,000 ceasefire violations, and since the Package of Measures was signed, the total number, according to the OSCE SMM estimates, is close to 2 million.

(p2) The Ukrainian Armed Forces have consistently violated paragraph 2 of the Package of Measures concerning the withdrawal of all heavy weapons by equal distances in order to create a security zone of at least 140 km wide. These violations became particularly evident during the recent shelling of the DPR and LPR territories in February this year.

(p4) For seven years there has been no answer to the question of how exactly Ukraine intends to resolve the conflict through peaceful (non-military) means in accordance with paragraph 4 of the Package of Measures, that is, how Kiev sees the future status of Donbass as part of Ukraine. This is the key question that Ukraine should have answered the day after the withdrawal of heavy weapons. Instead, on July 15, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution on local elections in Ukraine that dismisses the Minsk agreements in principle.

(p5) The implementation of paragraph 5 of the Package of Measures on “ensuring pardon and amnesty by enacting the law prohibiting the prosecution and punishment of persons in connection with the events that took place in certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine” was blocked. The law “On the Prohibition of Prosecution and Punishment of Persons in Connection with the Events in the Territory of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions”, which was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on 16 September 2014, was never signed by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and the President of Ukraine.

(p8) Paragraph 8 on “definition of modalities of full resumption of socioeconomic ties, including social transfers such as pension payments and other payments”, including the restoration of the segment of the Ukrainian banking system in conflict-affected areas, has also not been implemented. The banking system has not been restored. Kiev has not been willing to negotiate. The Ukrainian leadership, obeying the demands of radical nationalists, legalized in March 2017 the socioeconomic and transport blockade of Donbass, which had been imposed de facto in 2014 and aimed to strangle the region. The Ukrainian government has refused to orderly transfer pensions and social benefits to the region to the residents of Donbas, forcing them to make unsafe trips across the line of contact for that purpose, which is also made very difficult due to the anti-COVID restrictions

(p9) Paragraphs 9, 11 and 12 of the Package of Measures, which provide for, among other things, constitutional reform in Ukraine in consultation with and upon agreement by representatives of CADLR within the Contact Group, involving the decentralization as a key element (including a reference to the specificities of certain areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, agreed with the representatives of these areas), as well as the adoption of permanent legislation on the special status of CADLR, have not been fulfilled.

Thus, the decisions to recognize the DPR and LPR have been taken against the background of Ukraine’s systematic refusal to implement the package of measures, which means a gross and continuing violation of security council resolution 2202, which endorsed the document. In fact, by all of its actions, Kyiv has consistently demonstrated that it does not recognize its obligations under the package of measures and un security council resolution, making their implementation impossible in practice.

(p10) Instead of implementing paragraph 10 regarding the “withdrawal of all foreign armed formations, military equipment, as well as mercenaries from the territory of Ukraine under monitoring of the OSCE” and the “disarmament of all illegal groups”, the Ukrainian leadership, with massive support from NATO countries and assistance from Western military instructors, is conducting a large-scale militarization of the country through joint exercises (seven military exercises in 2021, nine planned for 2022) and increasing its military capacity.

Oleksii Reznikov, Minister of Defence, said that as of 16 February 2022, they had already received 2,000 tons of modern weapons and ammunition, including man-portable air defense systems Stinger, antitank missile systems Javelin and NLAW and “other means, which we could only dream of before”. He also pointed out that a plant will soon be built in Ukraine to produce the Turkish strike UAVs Bayraktar.

The nationalist battalions have still not been disarmed under OSCE supervision and have instead, been incorporated into the Armed Forces of Ukraine and state security forces.

(p8) As a result, only one provision of the Package of Measures has been implemented to date, concerning the intensification of the activities of the Contact Group, including through the creation of working groups to implement the relevant aspects of the Minsk Agreements.

Kiev’s threats to reconsider
its rejection of Nuclear Weapons

For Reference: On December 5, 1994, Ukraine signed the Budapest memorandum, which obligated the country to liquidate the remainder of its nuclear arsenal left over from the USSR. On November 16, 1994, Kiev ratified the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

On February 23, 2022, president of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky allowed for the possibility of reconsidering the Budapest memorandum.

Since 2014, Ukraine has tried three times to convene consultations with the guarantor states of the Budapest memorandum. Three times without success. Today Ukraine will do it for the fourth time. I, as president, will do this for the first time. But both Ukraine and i are doing this for the last time. I am initiating consultations in the framework of the Budapest memorandum. The minister of foreign affairs was commissioned to convene them.

If they do not happen again or their results do not guarantee security for our country, Ukraine will have every right to believe that the Budapest memorandum is not working and all the package decisions of 1994 are in doubt.