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Letter: Consider some important history involving Ukraine

Just after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States, Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement to control nuclear weapons and respect each other's borders. It was called the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and was respected until 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Since then, Russia has been subjected to punishing sanctions in response to its violation of the agreement. Here are key terms of the agreement, according to Wikipedia: • Respect the signatory's independence and sovereignty in the existing borders (in accordance with the principles of the CSCE Final Act). • Refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of the signatories to the memorandum, and undertake that none of their weapons will ever be used against these countries, except in cases of self-defense or otherwise in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations. • Refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to their own interest the exercise by Ukraine, the Republic of Belarus and Kazakhstan of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind. • Seek immediate UN Security Council action to provide assistance to the signatory if they 'should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression. • Not to use nuclear weapons against any non–nuclear-weapon state. • Consult with one another. Jay Belanger Alsace Township