Bill Clinton expresses ‘terrible’ regret for pushing Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons

Former President Bill Clinton said he feels “terrible” about his key role in a landmark 1994 deal that saw Ukraine surrender its nuclear arsenal, and the 42nd president suggested that it’s highly unlikely Russia would have invaded its neighbor in February 2022 if Ukraine still had those weapons.

In an interview with the Irish news outlet RTE released Wednesday, Mr. Clinton expressed regret for pushing Ukraine to surrender some 1,900 nuclear warheads it inherited after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Mr. Clinton played a pivotal part in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, a pact signed by the U.S., Britain and Russia that offered security assurances to former Soviet republics, including Ukraine, meant to assuage fears that Russia would pursue military aggression or economic warfare against its new neighbors.

In order to get then-Russian President Boris Yeltsin to sign the deal, Mr. Clinton said, Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons. 

In retrospect, Mr. Clinton said that decision has had major repercussions.

“I knew President [Vladimir] Putin did not support the agreement President Yeltsin made never to interfere with Ukraine’s territorial boundaries — that agreement he made because he wanted Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons,” Mr. Clinton told RTE. “They were afraid to give them up because they thought that’s the only thing that protected them against an expansionist Russia.”

“And I feel terrible about it because Ukraine is a very important country,” he continued. “And I feel a personal stake because I got them to agree to give up their nuclear weapons. And none of them believe that Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons.”

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SEE ALSO: History As It Happens: When Ukraine gave up its nukes

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Throughout the ongoing conflict, Mr. Putin and other Russian leaders have made thinly veiled references to the possibility of using nuclear weapons to turn the tide of the war in their favor. Fears of nuclear war grew last week after Mr. Putin announced a plan to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, one of Russia’s few allies in Europe.

Mr. Clinton said the West must keep backing Ukraine but said it should be up to Kyiv to decide when and if to pursue peace.

“I think what Mr. Putin did was very wrong and I believe Europe and the United States should continue to support Ukraine,” Mr. Clinton said. “There may come a time when the Ukrainian government believes they can think of a peace agreement they can live with, but I don’t think the rest of us should cut and run on them.”