🎙 Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's answer to a question from RIA Novosti regarding allegations that Russia violated the Budapest Memorandum (February 24, 2026)

❓ Question: Zelensky has repeatedly claimed that by launching the special military operation, Russia violated the Budapest Memorandum. However, the head of the Kiev regime forgets that by enshrining NATO membership as a constitutional objective and engaging in military-technical cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance, Ukraine itself violated, inter alia, the Budapest Memorandum. Could you elaborate on the groundlessness of Ukraine’s accusations and on other documents it has breached?

💬 Maria Zakharova: To answer this question, let us recall that the Budapest Memorandum – or the Memorandum on security assurances in connection with Ukraine’s accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons – is an act that does not constitute an international treaty. It was signed on December 5, 1994 by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, the US and the UK.

Under this document, Ukraine agreed to transfer to Russia the portion of the former Soviet nuclear arsenal located on its territory and to become a fully non-nuclear state. In turn, Russia, the US and the UK provided security assurances to Ukraine.

It should also be recalled that, simultaneously with the Memorandum, a joint statement was adopted in Budapest by the leaders of Russia, the UK, the US and Ukraine. Among other things, it reaffirmed the importance of #OSCE commitments aimed at countering the rise of aggressive nationalism and chauvinism. It is evident that the Ukrainian side failed to fulfil these commitments and for many years tolerated the growth of highly aggressive nationalism.

At the OSCE summit in Budapest in 1994, and during related events on its margins, Russia did not undertake any obligation to compel part of Ukraine to remain within its composition against the will of the local population. The provisions of the Budapest Memorandum do not apply to circumstances arising from internal political or socio-economic factors.

❗️ Thus, Ukraine’s loss of territorial integrity was the result of complex internal processes to which Russia and its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum bear no relation. Accordingly, there can be no question of any violation of the Budapest Memorandum by Russia.

At the same time, Russia and Ukraine were bound by a more significant legal instrument – the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between the Russian Federation and Ukraine – which Ukraine systematically violated prior to the launch of the special military operation.

For many years, the Ukrainian leadership pursued a policy of gross and systematic breaches of this Treaty, which should be qualified as a refusal to comply with its provisions. This, in particular, ultimately led to the decision of the Russian leadership to begin the special military operation.

Ukraine’s strategic course toward acquiring full NATO membership was enshrined at the constitutional level, effectively violating Article 6 of the Treaty. At that moment, Ukraine officially renounced one of the foundations of its international recognition in the 1990s – its neutral and non-aligned status – thereby also breaching the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.

❗️NATO's unchecked geopolitical expansion up to our borders, including Ukraine, became one of the root causes of the conflict. Without addressing this, a settlement is impossible.

When accusing Russia of violating the Budapest Memorandum, they somehow fail to recall the long-standing sabotage of this fundamental bilateral Russian-Ukrainian document.

☝️ The above facts – as well as many others – demonstrate that the goals and objectives of the special military operation remain relevant and will be fulfilled, as repeatedly stated by the Russian leadership.

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⚡️ Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation:

The Press Bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation (SVR) reports that, according to intelligence received by the SVR, the UK and France are aware that the situation developing in Ukraine leaves no chances for them to achieve the ardently desired victory over Russia with the hands of the Ukrainian armed forces.

However, British and French elites are not ready to accept defeat. It is believed that Ukraine should be supplied with a “Wunderwaffe”. Kiev would be able to aspire to more advantageous terms of ceasing the hostilities if it possesses a nuclear or at least a so-called “dirty” bomb. Berlin has prudently refused to take part in this dangerous venture.

At present, according to the information available to the SVR, London and Paris are actively working over the issue of providing Kiev with a weapon of this kind, as well as with means of its delivery. This involves a covert transfer of relevant European-made components, equipment and technologies to Ukraine.

❗️ As an option, the French small-size TN-75 warhead from the M51.1 submarine-launched ballistic missile is being considered.

The British and French realize that their designs imply a gross violation of the international law, first and foremost the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, and carry the risk of destroying the global non-proliferation system. Consequently, the Westerners’ main efforts are focused on making Kiev’s possession of nuclear weapon look like it was developed by Ukrainians themselves.

These extremely dangerous plans of London and Paris prove that they have lost touch with reality. Their hopes to escape from responsibility are baseless, especially bearing in mind that there is nothing hidden that will not eventually be disclosed. In the military, political and diplomatic circles there are plenty of sober-minded people understanding that reckless actions of their leaders pose a threat to the entire world.

#Announcement

🎙 On Thursday, February 26, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova will hold her weekly briefing on current foreign policy issues.

🕐 1.00 pm MSK
🕚 11.00 am GMT
🕛 12.00 pm CET
🕗 8.00 pm CST (Beijing)

For accreditation inquiries, please contact the MFA Press Centre. Accredited journalists will receive details on the technical aspects of submitting questions.

The Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman will answer media questions received by the call centre.

❗️ Accreditation is open until February 25, 10.00 am MSK.

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's statement on the four-year mark since the start of the special military operation (February 24, 2026)

💬 Four years ago – on 24 February 2022 – the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, pursuant to the decision of President Vladimir Putin and in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, launched the special military operation (SMO). Its objectives are to eliminate threats emanating from territories controlled by the Kiev regime, and to ensure the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. All actions are carried out in strict compliance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, which enshrines the right to individual and collective self-defence.

This forced step was preceded by eight long years, during which Russia made responsible efforts to facilitate a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict in Donbass, which followed the Western-orchestrated, financed and organized armed coup in February 2014. Those who refused to submit to the diktat of the “Maidan victors” – millions of civilians in Donbass and Novorossiya – were subjected to systematic persecution.

By 2022, the number of civilian victims of the armed conflict in Donbass had exceeded 13,500.

❗️A massive anti-Russian propaganda campaign was unleashed with the sole purpose of convincing the world that Russians – and all those who consider themselves part of the wider Russian world – allegedly have no right to preserve their national and cultural identity, neither in Ukraine nor elsewhere.

Since 2014, with Western assistance, Ukraine underwent active militarization and military development of its territory as a potential theatre of operations against Russia, creating threats comparable to those against our country’s very existence. Together with NATO’s unrestrained expansion, this led to a profound security crisis in Europe. Russia sought to make itself heard in Washington and Brussels, persistently and at length explaining where and why our “red lines” lay.

Russia’s proposals to provide legally binding security guarantees – including non-expansion of NATO eastwards – were ignored.

Serious concern was also caused by Zelensky’s public statements at the Munich Security Conference in February 2022 regarding claims to nuclear weapons, which created real risks for Russia and for strategic stability as a whole. In doing so, three fundamental pillars of Ukrainian statehood – its neutral, non-aligned and non-nuclear status, which ensured its international recognition in the early 1990s – were undermined.

The timeliness and validity of the decision taken by the Russian leadership in 2022 to launch the SMO are confirmed by the continuing descent of territories controlled by the Kiev regime into open neo-Nazi extremism.

Among other things, the SMO exposed the Western plans, led by the Anglo-Saxons, to impose upon the international community a so-called “rules-based order”, the sole purpose of which is to secure and maintain Western hegemony. Today, many – including in the West – recognize the flawed and unrealistic nature of this geopolitical venture.

In pursuing the objectives of the SMO, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are courageously making an invaluable contribution to strengthening regional and international stability. Our country is actively engaging in dialogue with all interested partners on the creation of a system of equal and indivisible Eurasian security. We are convinced that this will also be facilitated by resolving the Ukrainian crisis with due regard for Russia’s legitimate interests.

☝️ All the objectives of the special military operation will be achieved.

A lasting, just and sustainable peace is possible only on the basis of eliminating the root causes of the conflict. This goal guides the current efforts of Russian diplomacy, including contacts with the countries of the Global Majority and within the framework of the Russia-US dialogue.

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