MOSCOW, February 21./TASS/. Ukraine’s talk of its return to the possession of nuclear weapons won’t be met with understanding among the sober-minded public in Germany and other European countries, Russian Ambassador to Berlin Sergey Nechayev told Rossiya-24 TV channel on Monday.
"If Ukraine indeed wants to try to resume the conversation about the possession of nuclear weapons - in all appearances, this is one of the aims of such statements - this will hardly be met with understanding among the sober-minded European public, in particular the German public," the Russian diplomat said.
"As we know, Germans are against nuclear weapons and stand for full nuclear disarmament, that is why they hardly need any new conflict situations," he said in comments on statements from Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Munich.
However, the German side "supports and encourages Ukraine," he noted. "They are trying to turn a blind eye to the developments in Donbass, including what the president [of Russia Vladimir Putin] designated as genocide," the diplomat stressed. There is no pressure from Berlin to make Kiev eventually comply with the Minsk Package of Measures, "which is regretful," he summed up.
On February 19, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky told the Munich Security Conference that he had instructed the Foreign Ministry to call a summit conference of the Budapest Memorandum’s signatories.
"I have instructed the Foreign Ministry to convene a summit of the countries - signatories to the Budapest Memorandum. If it fails to take place or refuses to give Ukraine security guarantees, Kiev will recognize it as well as the clauses signed in 1994 as null and void," Zelensky told the Munich conference.
The Budapest Memorandum was signed on December 5, 1994, by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Britain, and the United States. Under the treaty, Ukraine agreed to eliminate its nuclear arsenal, while Russia, the United States, and Britain guaranteed Kiev’s security.