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referringtotheBudapestMemorandum,wehavenot
violatedit.Itcontainsonlyoneobligation—i.e.nottouse
nuclearweaponsagainstUkraine.Noonehasmadeany
threatstousenuclearweaponsagainstUkraine.”5Infact,
theBudapestMemorandumsignedbythePresidents
ofRussia,theUnitedStates,andUkraine,aswell
asthePrimeMinisteroftheUnitedKingdomhas
thesignatoriesreaffirmingtheircommitments:
“torespecttheindependenceandsovereigntyand
theexistingbordersofUkraine;”
“torefrainfromthethreatoruseofforceagainst
theterritorialintegrityorpoliticalindependence
ofUkraine;”
“torefrainfromeconomiccoerciondesigned
tosubordinatetotheirowninteresttheexercise
byUkraineoftherightsinherentinitssovereignty;”
toprovideassistance“ifUkraineshouldbecomeavictim
ofanactofaggressionoranobjectofathreat
ofaggressioninwhichnuclearweaponsareused;”and
“nottousenuclearweaponsagainstanynon-nuclear-
weaponstatepartytotheTreatyontheNon-Proliferation
ofNuclearWeapons,exceptinthecaseofanattack
onthemselves,theirterritoriesordependentterritories,
theirarmedforces,ortheirallies,bysuchastate
inassociationoralliancewithanuclearweaponsstate.”
(UkrainehadjustaccededtotheNon-ProliferationTreaty
asanon-nuclearweaponsstate.)6
JustasMrLavrovmadehisclaimthatRussiadidnot
renegeonitscommitmentsundertheBudapest
Memorandum,anyonewithaccesstotheinternetcould
checkthattheForeignMinisteroftheRussianFederation
misledhisaudience,intentionallyandwithpremeditation.
Whydidhedoso?Anexplanationthatspringstomind
ispreciselyinternettrolling,astrivingtohavepatentlyfalse
assertionscirculated,sothatthesemightcoexistwithtrue
statementsandatatimeofinformationoverloadmake
itdifficultforpeopletoseparatethewheatfromthechaff.
Thispermitsthe(somewhatshocking)conclusionthat
theForeignMinisteroftheRussianFederationisintentionally
seekingtodestroytheinternational(law)order,andmuddy
waterswhenitcomestoappraisingRussia’sactionstowards