Letter of President L. Kravchuk to Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada I. Plyushch

PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE

To the Head of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

I.S. Plushch

Dear Ivan Stepanovych,

In connection to the recommendation of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which is included in point 11 of the Resolution of the Verkhovna  Rada of Ukraine dated 18 November 1993, I inform the Verkhovna Rada about the measures that the Government of Ukraine and I have implemented.

For the purpose of implementing the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine we have initiated negotiations in a bilateral and trilateral format with the Russian Federation and the United States of America. As a result of intense negotiations in Kyiv, Washington and Moscow we prepared a Trilateral Declaration of the Presidents of Ukraine, United States and Russia, which was signed on 14 January in Moscow.

The Declaration and its Annex /see attachment/ reflect the compromise among the three states in solving the problems of nuclear weapons inherited by Ukraine from the former Soviet Union.

The texts of the Declaration and its Annex contain provisions that are geared toward the fulfillment of matters stated in the Resolution. Specifically, the agreements achieved in Moscow include the following:

- granting Ukraine guarantees of its national security after the entry into force of the START-1 and NPT /including the commitments regarding the confirmation of independence, sovereignty and existing borders, abstention from the threat of force or the use of force, measures of economic pressure/;

- commitment by the United States to provide Ukraine with at least 175 million dollars for the dismantlement of nuclear weapons with the possibility of increasing the amount of such aid;

- transportation of all nuclear stockpiles from Ukraine to Russia for the dismantlement with simultaneous compensation in the form of supplies for the needs of Ukraine’s nuclear energy sector.

Moreover - and this has special political significance - it was confirmed that Ukraine, USA and Russia will cooperate with one another as equal partners and that relations among them will be built on the foundations of respect for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of each state. The United States also stated their readiness to provide help to Ukraine in creating a market economy in Ukraine.

Thus, the Trilateral Declaration and its Annex, as well as their implementation correspond to the requirements laid out in the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine dated 18 November 1993. In this regard, according to the Article 103 of the Constitution of Ukraine, in the way of the legislative initiative I submit my proposal to remove the reservations that are contained in the Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada dated 18 November 1993 with respect to the article of the Lisbon protocol and the accession of Ukraine to the NPT.

The draft of the relevant Resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is attached.

Attachment: as mentioned above on 11 pages. 

With respect,

[signed] 

L. Kravchuk

24 January 1994

No. 1-14/23