Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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The ambassador and her team are most welcome. I have two brief questions. The first is in relation to the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, of 1994. It is a straightforward memorandum and is only one-and-a-half pages long. It is freely available on the Internet. The memorandum was brought in when Ukraine got its independence and when it agreed to hand over all its nuclear weapons to Russia in return for security guarantees. The security guarantees are quite explicit here, and I will read them into the record. Russia agreed to “refrain from economic coercion” and reaffirmed its “obligation to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine”. My question to the ambassador is on whether Ukraine has handed over all of its nuclear warheads. Has Ukraine handed over all of its nuclear weapons to Russia, thereby abiding by its side of the agreement? My second question is what would the ambassador’s assessment be as to whether Russia has abided by its side of the agreement? Those are my first two questions. The last question relates to the percentage of the population in Ukraine that is interested in joining NATO and the European Union. What is the approximate percentage of the public in Ukraine that is interested in joining NATO and the European Union?