CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

DEFENCE – UKRAINE - 21 February 2022

DEFENCE – UKRAINE - 21 February 2022

Dr Julian Lewis: What lessons have our Government drawn from the consequences for Ukraine of its decision in 1994 unilaterally to give up all the nuclear weapons that it had inherited from the Soviet Union in return for assurances on a piece of paper?

[The Secretary of State for Defence (Mr Ben Wallace): That shows that we must ensure that the Budapest memorandum – the signature between Russia and Ukraine in 1994 – is stuck to. Russia should honour all the treaties that it has signed as well as its statements to ensure that mutual recognition of each other’s security is upheld. If it does not do that, as my right hon. Friend rightly says, that opens up all sorts of questions about how much of Russia’s word we can trust. If we cannot trust its word, I am afraid that it is a dangerous place to be in Europe.]