~ explained. RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: THE NUCLEAR QUESTION ‘® Russia's foreign minister weapons”, and has justified Sergey Lavrov(pictured)has the invasionasmeans “to saidthat"Ukrainepossesses prevent the emergence of Soviet nucleartechnologyand —_ nuclear weaponsin Ukraine” means of delivering these @ Ukraine had given up all nuclear arms on its territory in the years after its independence. It denuclearised from 1996 to 2001 under an international agreement. With the Russian army now sitting in its territory, Ukrainians are wondering if that was amistakeS EXPRESS) 6 S explained. END OFCOLD WAR @ As Ukraine prepared to cut away from Soviet Union, it proclaimed a Declaration of Sovereignty in 1990, in which it pledged to become a nucle: weapons-free state ®@ The command and control of the nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil then was in the USSR capital Moscow. According to the Arms Control Association of the US, at the time, Ukraine had: 176 44 intercontinental strategic bombers ballistic missiles 2,000 2,600 warheads tactical nuclear weapons #QUIXPLAINEDEXPRESS, S explained. STRATEGIC ARMS REDUCTION TREATY (START) @ Afterthe 1991 breakdownof weapons. The 1992 Lisbon the Soviet Union, an Protocol was the first step. unprecedented situation Under this, Ukraine, Belarus arose. How to deal with the and Kazakhstan became party Soviet nuclear arsenal in the toSTART 1, atreaty between smallersuccessorstatesofthe the USand the Soviet Union to USSR? They were persuaded — reduce thenumber of nuclear by the US togive up their weapons on each sideSexplained. THE 1994 BUDAPEST TREATY @ The Budapest its borders Memorandum on Security Assurance had Ukraine agree totrade its nuclear arsenal in exchange for guarantees that the three other treaty signatories — the US, the UK and Russia — would respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and #QUIXPLAINED © Ukraine handed over its n-weapons to Russia, and was compensated with a pay out of one billion dollars, while the US bought Ukraine’s stockpile of enriched uranium fora massive sumexplained. FROM 2014 TONOW @ Russia’s annexation of Crimea was a breach of the Budapest agreement. It came six years after Putin first lashed out at NATO's eastward expansion @|n 2016, aUS official said that the US has committed over $600 million in security assistance to Ukraine, and with NATOallies, they have maintained a military presence allalong the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria e Russia e Ukraine i, @ {J Moldova e Q Romania Pee e Crimea #QUIXPLAINEDxplained. RUSSIA’S RESPONSE ®@ ToPutin, US and NATO’s response represented a threat to Russian security. In recent months, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's statements on arming his country with nuclear weapons were seen in Russia as “crossing a redline” TEXT: NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN; AGENCIES #QUIXPLAINED ® Currently, Putin has put Russia’s nuclear forces on “special alert”, the move justified as a response to “aggressive statements” by the West