Turning the pages back...

June 7, 1996

Eight years ago, on June 7, 1996, the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States released a momentous statement by President Leonid Kuchma announcing the completion of the removal of Ukraine's nuclear warheads. It was the culmination of a process that began in 1990, when Ukraine, in its Declaration of State Sovereignty, told the world that it would adhere to three non-nuclear principles: not to receive, not to produce and not to acquire nuclear weapons. It was for many an unbelievable act: Ukraine had voluntarily renounced the third largest nuclear capacity in the world.

"On June 1, Ukraine completed the process of transferring its strategic nuclear warheads to the Russian Federation for further dismantlement under the supervision of Ukrainian observers. Thus, the Ukrainian state demonstrated to the world its faithfulness to the idea of nuclear disarmament, its striving by practical steps to bring closer the time when the peoples of our planet will be able to live without threat of nuclear destruction," stated Mr. Kuchma.

The president also underscored the significance of Ukraine's act: "This historic event represents the timely and full implementation by our state of its obligations under the Trilateral Agreement of the presidents of Ukraine, the U.S.A. and Russia of January 14, 1994, and is an important contribution of Ukraine to the process of disarmament. ... The complete elimination of nuclear weapons located on the territory of Ukraine provides a unique opportunity for realization of the idea of a nuclear-free Central and Eastern Europe, from the Black to the Baltic seas. This would promote the development of confidence among the states of the region, and significantly diminish the threat of the appearance of new lines of division on the European continent."

Source: "For the record: Kuchma statement on removal of nukes," The Ukrainian Weekly, June 16, 1996, Vol. LXIV, No. 24.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 6, 2004, No. 23, Vol. LXXII

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