By offering Hungary, Trump recalls bad memories to Ukraine

International – Do we take the same and do we start again? While the White House grows for a Putin-Zelensky meeting, the Americans already have a place of reception in mind … and it has everything to displease the Ukrainians. While Emmanuel Macron offers Geneva and Vladimir Putin Moscow, the American president and his teams seem to have a weakness for Budapest, the Hungarian capital.

Questioned Tuesday August 19 on the subject, the White House spokesperson did not announce the official position of Washington, refusing to “Confirm or deny places” To organize the summit. But according to two anonymous sources of the American site politico, Budapest “Appears as the first choice” of the American executive, and this choice seems quite logical.

As Franceinfo points out, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is an ally of Donald Trump who would need a “Rebounding opportunity” A few months of legislative elections where it is weakened. If his country belongs to the EU and NATO, the autocrat remains a pro-Russian assumed within these organizations far from being Russophile. Budapest could therefore offer a form of neutral land … with a big detail.

A text that acts the denuclearization of Ukraine

For the Ukrainians, the Hungarian capital remains associated with the very bad memory of the Budapest memorandum, signed on December 5, 1994 by the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia and Ukraine, three years after the independence of the latter. This text, later joined by China and France, was supposed to guarantee kyiv a protection of its borders, as was the agreement that Donald Trump promised to Volodymyr Zelensky by making him mirrh “Safety guarantees”.

But to benefit from this theoretical protection, Ukraine had to make a huge concession: to give up thousands of Soviet nuclear warheads that have remained on its territory after the fall of the USSR. kyiv is then in fact the third global nuclear power. “Of course, Belarus and Kazakhstan also had Soviet weapons, but in much lower quantity”noted Polina Sinovets, director of the University of Odessa non-proliferation center interviewed last February by Mediapart.

As part of the memorandum, kyiv agreed to transfer Soviet warheads to Moscow and to integrate the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (TNP) as a state not endowed with the weapon. “From the moment when Ukraine renounced the nuclear weapons which were stationed on its territory and that it returned them to Russia, it deprived itself of an instrument of deterrence”notes General Jérôme Pellistrandi, interviewed by BFMTV. “So the great powers of the time, including Russia, have committed to not intervening and preserving the security of Ukraine. »»

“Russia has not kept its commitments”

You just have to have turned on the radio or television in the past ten years to know that the agreement signed in Budapest has not been respected. One of its limits is in particular that he did not provide for immediate intervention by the signatories in the event of a violation. Article 5 only provided that they « demand[ent] the UN Security Council to intervene immediately ” If Ukraine “Was the subject of an assault or a threat of aggression using nuclear weapons”.

The guarantees given in Budapest in 1994 were therefore only “Limited”had underlined the historian Anne de Tinguy, specialist in Russia interviewed by Libération At the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. “The memorandum had a very important political scope” more “Did not provide for a retaliation measure in the event of a violation by one of the parties”she had insisted. This agreement remains “A bad memory for Ukrainians” Who “Respected [leurs] commitments while Russia did not keep its own and the other signatories could not force it to respect it ” In particular with the annexation of Crimea and the Russian intervention in Donbass in 2014.

An agreement “which did not work a single day”

This dark memory associated with Budapest did not escape Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister and ex-president of the European Council, who split a message on X: “Budapest?” Not everyone does not remember, but in 1994, Ukraine had already obtained guarantees of territorial integrity […]. In Budapest. »» And the Polish manager to add, ironic: “I may be superstitious, but this time, I would try to find another place. »»

If he did not give an opinion on the place of the summit, Volodymyr Zelensky has already had very hard words to speak of the memorandum of 1994. “Ukraine was under pressure from the United States and Russia”he denounced in early January, even affirming that people behind the agreement deserve the « prison »according to The Kyiv Independent. On December 5, 2024, for the 30th anniversary of the memorandum, the Ukrainian president castigated in a message on X that you can see below and “Document that did not work a single day”.

In this same video, Volodymyr Zelensky also draws conclusions of the missed experience of Budapest. “This failure has proven something in the whole worldhe assured, A signature – promises or guarantees of any country – is not enough to ensure security ”. Only the « armes » and the” unit “ in “Real alliances” Allow protection, he insists in what looks like a warning for the EU, NATO and Washington.