ANKARA
Ukraine's policies are undermining international efforts to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security regimes, Russian foreign ministry said Tuesday.
“We note with regret that in recent days members of the Ukrainian coalition government representing the Batkivshchyna and Udar parties introduced a bill that, if passed, would provide for a withdrawal of Ukraine from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” the Russian foreign ministry said.
Despite the Russian statement, Ukraine has not withdrawn from the treaty, and it is not clear that it will. In the most recent election, those two parties combined won less than 30 percent of the vote.
Ukrainian officials have said that Russia is jeopardizing the security of nuclear facilities in Ukraine. Russia retorted that this allegation was an attempt to pass the buck.
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an agreement effectively annexing the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, a move condemned by many Western countries as a violation of international law.
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