An Ukrainian officer watches a SS-24 nuclear missile booster being extracted from its bunker at a military base in southern Ukrainian town of Pervomaisk in 1998.Gleb Garanich / Reuters file
NBC: Russia-Ukraine sea clash puts spotlight on 1994 agreement
Washington paid half a billion dollars for Ukraine to pass 5,000 nuclear weapons to Russia to be dismantled after brokering the deal.
Twenty five years ago, Ukraine was the world's third-largest nuclear power, with more warheads than the United Kingdom, France and China combined.
The government in Kiev inherited this arsenal after the breakup of the Soviet Union, finding itself in possession of an estimated 5,000 nuclear weapons, more than 170 intercontinental ballistic missiles and several dozen nuclear bombers.
In 1994, Ukraine agreed to dismantle this stockpile in return for a promise from Russia that the country wouldn't be attacked.
But after Russian forces fired at and seized three Ukrainian naval vessels on Sunday, Kiev has pointed to this deal and suggested that the U.S. and Europe should do more to protect it against the vastly superior Russian military.
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WNU editor: The main reason why Ukraine "gave-up" its nuclear stockpile in 1994 was not to have a guarantee from Moscow that they would not be attacked by Russia .... which at the time was viewed as impossible but was still put into the treaty as a clause. Kiev gave it up their nuclear arsenal because there was little if any public support to have these weapons on Ukrainian soil, especially since the impact of Chernobyl was still fresh for many Ukrainians. There were also the economic guarantees from Moscow that were just too good to not ignore, coupled with the fact that Ukraine did not have the monies or resources to support and maintain a nuclear arsenal and its delivery systems. Even if this treaty was not signed and Ukraine decided to keep some nuclear weapons .... it would not have changed anything. We are where we are today because a legitimately elected pro-Russian government was overthrown in 2014, and a revolutionary government came to power with an anti-Russian agenda that alienated the Russian dominated eastern part of Ukraine .... and as a result they revolted. I have repeated it numerous times .... to have peace in Ukraine the central government must respect, compromise, and accommodate its Russian-Ukrainian minorities. As long as that does not happen, this destructive war will just continue. And thank God there are no nuclear weapons in Ukraine.