RIA Novosti published an article under the heading “The Foreign Ministry rejected accusations against Russia of violating the Budapest Memorandum”:

“The accusations against Russia of violating the Budapest Memorandum are untenable - its “legal foundation” was undermined long before 2014, Andrei Belousov, deputy head of the Russian delegation, said at the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

“This document (the Budapest Memorandum – ed.), which is, in fact, a political declaration, like other similar documents, is based on the fundamental norms of international law, the principles of the UN and the OSCE,” he said.

However, as the diplomat pointed out, Russia's opponents have already trampled on these principles several times and thereby "albeit not directly, called into question the validity of the Budapest Memorandum."

“Among the events that allow such a conclusion to be drawn are the bombing of Yugoslavia, the actual secession of Kosovo under direct pressure from the United States and its allies, the intervention of Western countries in the internal affairs of Ukraine in 2004, which led to a creeping coup in this country under the guise of democratic processes,” - listed Belousov.

Thus, the deputy head of the delegation stated, the legal foundation of the memorandum “was undermined long before 2014”. Therefore, the accusations of its violation by Russia are simply untenable, he stressed.
Those states that make groundless and false accusations against Russia, trying to discredit, demonize and isolate it, should conduct an objective analysis of their own destructive actions, including violations of international law, Belousov pointed out.

Here is the full text of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum:

"one. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the CSCE, to respect the independence, sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine.

2. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine, and that none of their weapons will ever be used against Ukraine except in self-defense or in any other way in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

3. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm to Ukraine their commitment, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the CSCE, to refrain from economic coercion aimed at subordinating to their own interests the exercise by Ukraine of the rights inherent in its sovereignty, and way to secure advantages of any kind.

4. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate action by the UN Security Council to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in the event that Ukraine becomes a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression with the use of nuclear weapons.

5. The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, except in the event of an attack against them, their territories or dependent territories, their armed forces or their allies by such a state acting in conjunction with a nuclear-weapon state or an alliance agreement associated with it.

6. Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America will consult if a situation arises that raises a question regarding these commitments.

This Memorandum will be applicable from the moment of signing.”

Unfortunately, Belousov did not explain how the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 violated the legal basis of the Budapest Memorandum, which has nothing to do with the Balkan region. How the West intervened in the internal affairs of Ukraine in 2004, when the mass protest movement prevented the falsification of the presidential elections, also remains a mystery. And, by the way, the “creeping coup”, as Belousov put it, for some reason did not prevent the automatic extension of the Ukrainian-Russian Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership in 2008, which Ukraine terminated only 4 years after the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in Donbass .