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Former US President Bill Clinton said in an interview Wednesday that he regretted forcing Ukraine to abandon its nuclear program amid ongoing war with Russia. He said the war likely would not have happened if Kiev still had nuclear weapons.
The war has lasted over 400 days and has claimed hundreds of thousands of casualties, including soldiers and civilians.
In an interview with Irish news agency RTÉ published Tuesday, Clinton suggested that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Kiev still had a nuclear deterrent.
“I got them, so I feel a personal stake [Ukraine] “I hope they agree to give up their nuclear weapons,” Clinton said, adding, “Nobody believes Russia would have done this stunt if Ukraine still had nuclear weapons.”
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Former US President Bill Clinton speaks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky via video link from Ukraine at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2022 Conference in New York City on September 20, 2022. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
This comment is closely related to the arguments used by Second Amendment proponents when discussing gun ownership and the existence of firearms as a deterrent to escalating violence.
In the 1994 Budapest Memorandum of Understanding, the Ukrainian government in Kiev agreed to give up the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal, which consists of about 1,900 strategic nuclear warheads.
In exchange, the United States, Russia, and the United Kingdom agreed to “respect Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty and its existing borders” and “refrain from the threat or use of force,” providing security to Ukraine. provided.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Ukraine’s first president, Leonid Kravchuk, remained unsatisfied with the 1994 agreement and shortly after signing it said: “Even if Russia enters Crimea tomorrow, no one will I wouldn’t frown,” he said.
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Clinton said Russia pursued an invasion of Ukraine as soon as it would be “convenient.”
According to Business Insider, Clinton said, “When it worked out for him, Putin broke it and took Crimea first.” “And Ukraine is such an important country that I feel terrible about it.”

Soldiers move in a BMP near Chasiv Yar, Donetsk province, April 4, 2023. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Simon Miles, an assistant professor at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of Soviet Union and U.S.-Soviet relations, told Insider that a nuclear-armed Ukraine would enjoy a high degree of confidence in its territorial integrity. rice field.
“We probably won’t see this invasion,” Miles added.

Former US President Bill Clinton (second from left) helped facilitate a memorandum of understanding in Budapest with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma (right) in 1994 to dismantle Ukraine’s nuclear arsenal. (Robert Giroud/AFP via Getty Images)
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine all followed the Clinton administration, when Russia occupied Crimea under former President Barack Obama in 2014, and again under President Biden in 2022. occurred during the administration.
Clinton’s claims about deterrence are similar to those used by Second Amendment proponents such as the National Rifle Association, who argue that crime decreases as guns become more available.
“For decades, gun control activists have predicted that crime will rise as more people own more guns or as pesky restrictions on gun rights are lifted. We have firearms and more Americans in more states can legally carry concealed firearms than they did decades ago, but crime rates are down significantly.”

Ukrainian soldiers of the Aydar Battalion during a training exercise at an undetermined location in the Donetsk region on April 4, 2023. (Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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“Violent crime rates have fallen 52% from their 1991 highs. Americans acquired over 215 million new firearms during the same period, more than double the number of privately owned firearms in the United States. is,” said the NRA. stated in the report. “As violent crime has declined, the number of Right to Carry (RTC) states and the number of people carrying guns to protect themselves away from home has risen to all-time highs.”
Critics of private gun ownership have disputed these findings, saying that the decline in violent crime is due to factors such as gun control, social programs, the availability of mental health services, and the growth of non-firearm security protocols. They argue that it may be due to several other factors.
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