Background information on Russian and Ukrainian relationship[edit]
On December 1, 1991 Ukraine, the second most powerful republic in the USSR, voted overwhelmingly for independence, which ended any realistic chance of the Soviet Union staying together even on a limited scale. More than 90% of the electorate expressed their support for the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, and they elected the chairman of the parliament, Leonid Kravchuk to serve as the first president of the country. At the meeting in Brest, Belarus on December 8, followed by the Alma Ata meeting on December 21, the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine formally dissolved the Soviet Union and formed the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
After the dissolution of the USSR, about one third of Soviet nuclear arsenal, as well as a significant means of its design and production, remained within Ukrainian territory.[1]
Budapest Memorandum[edit]
Main article: Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances
On December 5, 1994 the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Britain and the United States signed a memorandum to provide Ukraine with security assurances in connection with its accession to the NPT as a non-nuclear weapon state. The four parties signed the memorandum, containing a preamble and six paragraphs. The memorandum reads as follows:[2]