Regarding the alleged violations of Russia’s obligations under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, we should like to make the following statements.
The current “government” in Kiev, which came to power as a result of an anti-constitutional coup, by their policy, primarily with regard to national minorities, has in fact itself broken the unity of Ukraine and literally pushed an entire regionout.
At the OSCE summit in Budapest in 1994 and during events on the side-lines, Russia did not undertake to force part of Ukraine to stay in it against the will of the local population, but the provisions of the Budapest Memorandum are not applicable to the conditions which have become a consequence of actions of foreign policy or social and economic factors.
As is known, 97 per cent of voters in Crimea during the referendum of the 16 March, which was organised under the control of international observers, supported entry into the Russian Federation.
Thus, Ukraine’sloss of its territorial integrity was a result of complicated internal processes, with which neither Russia nor its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum have anything to do.
The Russian Federation strictly observed and still observes its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine, including during the many months of political confrontation in Kiev, which cannot be said about the policy of western countries, who openly neglected this sovereignty during the events on the “maidan”.
Let us remind ourselves of the fact that along with this memorandum a joint statement was adopted in Budapest by the leaders of Russia, the United Kingdom the United States and Ukraine, which, inter alia, confirmed the importance of obligations within the OSCE, which are envisaged to counteract the growth of aggressive nationalism and chauvinism. It is absolutely clear that Ukraine has not fulfilled these obligations and had been conniving in the growth of extremely aggressive nationalism for many years, which finally led to the self-determination of the Crimean population by entering the Russian Federation.
As to the statement that Russia by its actions allegedly demonstrates the insecurity of the very concept of “negative guarantees” of the security of non-nuclear states and thus “destroys” the regime of nuclear non-proliferation, then it should be highlighted that only the obligation not to use and not to threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states is the common element of the Budapest Memorandum and the concept of “negative guarantees” in its classic understanding. Russia has not violated this obligation vis-à-vis Ukraine in any way.
All the other obligations under the Budapest Memorandum are a copy of the OSCE principles and have nothing to do with the concept of “negative guarantees” or the Non-Proliferation Treaty, in general. Therefore, any affirmations that Russia’s actions “disrupt” the regime of nuclear non-proliferation are inconsistent and unfair.
1 April 2014
Source: http://www.mid.ru/brp_4.nsf/0/B173CC77483EDEB944257CAF004E64C1
Voices of Ukraine 
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Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs April 1, 2014 Statement regarding non-violation of Budapest Memorandum (full text)
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I note the date of this statement by the Kremlin and I cannot resist the comment that it was made on “April Fool’s Day!”, which to all clear-minded and logically-thinking rationalists is exactly what it is: Russia’s BIGGEST April Fool’s joke ever! Who is this Russia to point a finger at the peaceful demonstration of the Maidan and to accuse it of illegally over-throwing a Constitutionally-formed Government of Ukraine?! Russia itself in less than a Century ago had overthrown a legally constituted Government (in 1917) that of Nicholas Alexander II, Tzar of all Russia! But of course, Putin’s restrictive Russian Regime today is involved in all sorts of duplicity, double-crossing, double-talking, double-thinking propaganda! Perhaps, US General Douglas MacArthur was correct in his calculation that if the USA did not get rid of Stalin (when they had the chance at the end of WWII), this rogue Government would come back to plague us–as it apparently has to this day! Even in 1948 when George Orwell wrote his famous book ‘1984’ to predict the kind of world government Russia would become, he coined the famous phrase: “double-think” which is what this Russian explanation of their invasion of a peace-loving neighbor is all about, a classic case-book example of ‘saying the opposite of what one knows to be true’ (i.e., Russian propaganda). Shakespeare (in Richard III) put it aptly when he said: “Why, I can smile, and murder whiles I smile, And cry ‘Content’ to that which grieves my heart, and wet my cheeks with artificial tears, And frame my face to all occasions!”. So, likewise Putin and his side-kick, Viktor Yanukovych (the Quisling ex-President of Ukraine), both are attempting to present to the world their fascist view (like Hitler and his side-kick Goering!) that their invasion of their neighbor’s territory is all in the name of PEACE in order to protect the interests and rights of their national-speaking minorities in a foreign stand. As if we in the civilized world (who respect the Rule of Law) do not recall recent history. Russia–if we are to accept the Russian logic in this Statement by the Russian Foreign Office–is operating in a Government that is unconstitutional–as it was obtained through the bloody revolution and overthrow of the LEGALLY Constituted Government under the Tzar back in 1917! If TRUTH be truth and not the pack of lies that Russia now peddles under it’s ‘little Czar’, Vladimir Putin, then we should be clear on one point: NOTHING Russia says can be trusted as accurate, as truthful, as logically conforming to a respectable platform that the rest of the Civilized World can accept! Russia claims that because it has not engaged in nuclear war or in the use of nuclear weapons against the Republic of Ukraine that it has not violated the 1994 Budapest Agreement in which it has signed to protect the Sovereignty and Independence of Ukraine. What part of ‘violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine’ through a military invasion does Russia not understand? The fact of a military take over of the Crimea, a legal part of Ukraine, is a clear violation of the Sovereignty of Ukraine, whether Russia accepts the legally constituted Government of Ukraine or not! The question has nothing whatsoever to do with the legally constituted Government of Ukraine, whether Russia votes to accept it or not. China may not legally accept the Constitution of Taiwan (to this day!) but the rest of the world does! And the Chinese Government is vastly more intelligent in comprehending International Law–as it does not invade Taiwan (to this day!).So, the faulty reasoning and inconsistent argument that Putin’s rogue Russia makes to attempt to justify an illegal takeover and International violation of International Agreements between Russia and the Ukraine and between Russia and the USA and the UK, are not only incoherent: they are ‘riddled with enigmas within enigmas’ (Churchill’s definition of Russia!)! Or, to put it more bluntly and to the core of the matter: Putin’s Russia believes that the ends justifies the means, regardless of what International Rule of Law may declare to be ‘consistent and fair’. But this illegal takeover of The Crimea (arguably, worth trillions in USD!) is not ‘the end’ of Putin’s Russia–not by a long shot! This bully nation will continue to take over mainland Ukraine (although the Russian Foreign Office says it will not) just as Putin himself declared that Russian troops in The Crimea will return to home base ‘when their military exercises are over.’ But today there is no Agreement between Russia and Ukraine for any ‘military exercises’ in Sevastopol or anywhere in the Black Sea area, nor in the Crimea itself–as all of these excuses were nothing but a pretext to break Russia’s former Agreements, just as this current April Fool’s statement by the Russian Foreign Office–to say that their violation of the 1994 Budapest Agreement is no violation, or as their Foreign Office prefers to word it: “The Russian Federation STRICTLY observed and still observes its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine”! A classic case of double-think, if there ever was one!
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