UK Ambassador to Ukraine: Russia has violated the Budapest Memorandum
Russia refused to participate in the consultations of the Budapest Memorandum in March 2014 and has violated its obligations under this agreement, the British Ambassador to Ukraine, Judith Gough, said.
"Was the Budapest Memorandum fulfilled? No, but it was not fulfilled by Russia, that's the key point. I've heard that it is described as an international treaty ... I know that many people are disappointed in Ukraine ... The British opinion is that this is a memorandum of understanding, and from this point of view, it is limited in a legal sense. These obligations, which we have under the terms of the memorandum, are to give advice," she said.
"In March 2014 we started consultations and they were held in the US Embassy in Paris, and the minister, Deshchitsia, was there, John Kerry was there and I was there with our Minister of Foreign Affairs .. and there was one vacant chair. Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov at that time was in Paris, but the Russian side did not visit the consultation," the Ambassador added.
"I think that the failure of the memorandum is a failure of one of the parties, which does not fulfill its obligations. We believe that Russia has not only violated its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum, but also a number of other international obligations, if we consider the situation of Russia's aggression against Ukraine" Gough convinced.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia did not violate the Budapest Memorandum, as it did not threaten Ukraine with nuclear weapons.
In 2014, the UN called on Russia to adhere to the Budapest Memorandum.