Through a combination of incentives, such as aid packages and the promise of NATO partnership, and implicit pressure regarding future relations, the US successfully guided Ukraine toward the path of disarmament. The Bargain for Security: The Budapest Memorandum The primary catalyst for the disarmament was the promise of security guarantees from the major nuclear powers.
Ukraine's Path to Nonproliferation: Joining the NPT and the Budapest Memorandum's Security Guarantees
The choice was pragmatic: retain a costly and isolated weapons system, or disarm and join the global economic and political order. The violation of the Budapest Memorandum raised difficult questions about the effectiveness of nuclear disarmament without a formal safety net.
For the US, a nuclear-armed Ukraine was a scenario that threatened the strategic balance established during the Cold War. The Inheritance of the Soviet Arsenal To understand why Ukraine gave up its nukes, one must first understand how it acquired them.
Ukraine's Path to NPT Accession: Aligning Security Guarantees with Global Nonproliferation Standards
In exchange for these promises, Ukraine agreed to destroy its nuclear delivery vehicles and remove the warheads from its territory, subsequently joining the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. For a nation that had recently declared independence, managing and securing this atomic legacy was an immense logistical and financial challenge.
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