Kyiv should rebuild its nuclear arsenal, says former minister

EurActiv ^ | 17 March 2014

[Olog-hai]

Western countries that supported Ukraine’s 1994 nuclear disarmament agreement should provide more effective help against Russia, or Kyiv will restart building up a nuclear arsenal, said Vladimir Ogryzko, a former Ukrainian foreign minister.

The only measure that could ensure Ukraine’s security is to abandon the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (TNPNW), said Ogryzko, who served as foreign minister in the government of Yulia Tymoshenko in 2007-2009.

Ukraine renounced its nuclear arsenal in 1994, when it signed the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (TNPNW) with Russia, the USA and the UK, relinquishing weapons inherited from the former USSR. …

[dfwgator]

Ukraine renounced its nuclear arsenal in 1994,

Gee, that was smart....NOT!

[DCBryan1]

Aint gonna happen. This is the same for gun control. Registration/confiscation leads to tyranny. Once you give up your deterrant, whether your AR-15/semi-automatics, or your nukes, you are at the mercy of someone who is better armed.

"You see, Paco, there are those with guns, and those who dig".

[RitchieAprile]

did Ukraine have actual control and the ability to deploy them? did they ever have the launch codes? unless they have the ability to maintain them and to light them off, they are nothing but expensive status symbols.

[doorgunner69]

They think Russia will just return them?

I doubt the Ukrainians have the resources to develop their own from scratch, but could be wrong.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The US took ownership of the warheads and wrote checks to Ukraine for the ownership rights.

[AnAmericanAbroad]

Ukraine has four nuclear power plants; three of them are west of the Dnieper River.

[bigbob]

I’d be a lot more worried about the Russian “loose nukes” than whatever the Ukraine might be able to do. Before its collapse in 1991, the Soviet Union had more than 27,000 nuclear weapons and enough weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to triple that number. Between rampant corruption, theft, and sabotague/bribed employees the likelihood of some being on the black market is non-zero. But I guess if Bin Laden couldn’t afford the price, Kiev can’t either.

[ckilmer]

The way to deal with the Russians is to develop technology that kills the price of energy.