Nuclear Nonproliferation Objectives of Permanence with Accountability at Stake: The Role of International Law in the Interlude Between the Tenth and the Eleventh Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Political and legal assessment of the Budapest Memorandum: From Ukraine’s renunciation of nuclear weapons to the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula

“…Further analysing the Budapest Memorandum, it should also be mentioned that it has the character of a regional treaty that was adopted after the NPT entered into force, i.e., it is a subsequent treaty. However, if we proceed from the obligations of nuclear states, namely Russia, Great Britain and the USA, on the obligation not to use nuclear weapons worldwide, and the allocation of territorial coverage of nuclear weapons, then in this case it can still be summed up that the Budapest Memorandum will be a higher priority international treaty than the NPT, since the Budapest Memorandum contains guarantees of an effective nature in the event of a nuclear war, therefore the provisions of this international treaty are of fundamental importance as the embodiment of the NPT regime (Haupt, 2021).…”

“…Thus, in this regard, a meeting of the heads of state was held in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, to reach exact agreements and ensure the territorial integrity of the republics of the post-Soviet space. As a result, in the context of a state like Ukraine as a non-nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty, the Budapest Memorandum has evolved into an agreement that certifies the fulfilment of obligations and the provision of guarantees on the territorial integrity of the OSCE Final Act, the UN Charter, and the NPT (Haupt, 2021).…”

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“…Further analysing the Budapest Memorandum, it should also be mentioned that it has the character of a regional treaty that was adopted after the NPT entered into force, i.e., it is a subsequent treaty. However, if we proceed from the obligations of nuclear states, namely Russia, Great Britain and the USA, on the obligation not to use nuclear weapons worldwide, and the allocation of territorial coverage of nuclear weapons, then in this case it can still be summed up that the Budapest Memorandum will be a higher priority international treaty than the NPT, since the Budapest Memorandum contains guarantees of an effective nature in the event of a nuclear war, therefore the provisions of this international treaty are of fundamental importance as the embodiment of the NPT regime (Haupt, 2021).…”

“…Thus, in this regard, a meeting of the heads of state was held in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, to reach exact agreements and ensure the territorial integrity of the republics of the post-Soviet space. As a result, in the context of a state like Ukraine as a non-nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty, the Budapest Memorandum has evolved into an agreement that certifies the fulfilment of obligations and the provision of guarantees on the territorial integrity of the OSCE Final Act, the UN Charter, and the NPT (Haupt, 2021).…”