In 1994 US persuaded Ukraine to give up its third-largest nuclear arsenal, if we don’t stand with Ukraine now it will lead to largest nuclear race – US Senator Jim Risch [video]

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America needs to understand how we got where we are in Ukraine. When the Soviet Union broke up, four of the countries that came out of the Soviet Union were nuclear armed – russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Ukraine. Ukraine at that moment was the third-largest nuclear power on the planet, US Senator Jim Risch said.

“We sat down in 1994 with the Ukrainians and persuaded them to give up their nuclear weapons, which they did, they surrendered and gave up their nuclear weapons, and we said if something happens we’ll be there for you. Well, here we are. Then, fast-forward to the time russians start threatening using nuclear weapons and all of a sudden the world said: Well, wait a second, Ukraine had nuclear weapons, they can’t respond. And I have said, if indeed, the US does not stand behind Ukraine, I worry what our allies would think: ‘We can’t count on the United States, we have to have nuclear weapons,'” Risch said.

According to him, a “default” in Ukraine would set off the largest nuclear race on the planet that we have ever seen.

“If the Cold War was the checkers game, we are dealing with the Rubik’s Cube today. In addition to that, in the Cold War we had a competitor that we were dealing with, today we have two. In addition to that, the gap in the Cold War was very significant. The gap today is not nearly that significant… All of it makes the Cold War look like a Sunday school picnic in a lot of ways,” Risch said.

Talking about russia, Risch said that “there has been cheating, all kinds of things have happened. You just can’t trust these people. We made a mistake when the Berlin Wall came down, thinking that russia was going to become a normal player on the planet, and they certainly… They started out that way, but it changed dramatically, particularly in recent years. You can’t trust them…”

According to Risch, this is not a partisan issue, this is an American issue. “The nuclear deterrence of the United States is a paramount question for the national security of this country. And I can assure you, I can assure the American people, that we are serious about it,” Risch said.

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