In an interview with the Russian newspaper “Vremya Novostei,” Ukrainian Minister of Defense Anatoli Gritsenko flatly rejected the suggestion that his country intended to acquire nuclear weapons. [1] The statement came in response to a question as to whether the recent decision of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (a close analog to the National Security Council in the United States) to commission development of new ballistic missiles meant that the country intended to create a new force resembling Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces and to acquire nuclear weapons. (During the Soviet era, Ukraine housed several Strategic Rocket Forces divisions and the largest missile-producing plant in the world; all nuclear weapons were transferred from its territory to Russia by the mid-1990s.)

Gritsenko explained that the National Security and Defense Council, because of concerns about the expiration of the service life of conventionally- armed tactical missiles that Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union, had decided to establish a program for the development of new short-range missiles with a range below 300 km. This range limit was intended to ensure that Ukraine’s missile capabilities stayed within the limits of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which seeks to constrain the spread of missiles able to carry a payload of 500 kilograms to a distance of 300 kilometers or more. The new missile, Gritsenko stated, is to be produced at Yuzhmash (Pivdenmash) plants in Dnepropetrovsk and implementation of the project will take six to eight years.

He emphasized that this decision did not entail the re-creation of a special branch of the armed forces (all short-range missiles will remain part of the Ground Forces), and that it in no way entailed development of nuclear weapons. Gritsenko’s assertion was intended to address lingering doubts regarding the country’s nuclear legacy. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Ukraine inherited a significant share of the Soviet nuclear arsenal, as well as considerable portions of its nuclear weapons complex and missile industry. After a lengthy domestic debate and considerable international pressure, Ukraine agreed to dismantle the military elements of its nuclear inheritance. Since then, however, some Ukrainian politicians have evoked notions of “nostalgia” regarding Ukraine’s former nuclear status. This sentiment peaked during the NATO air strikes on Kosovo in 1999, when the Ukrainian parliament passed a resolution calling for Ukraine to rearm itself with nuclear weapons in response to what was seen as NATO aggression. [2] At that time, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma provided assurance that there was “no turning back” to Ukraine’s former nuclear weapon capabilities. [3] The Defense Minister’s current rejection of the notion of renewed nuclear ambitions reinforces Ukraine’s policy in this regard.

Nikolai Sokov – Monterey Institute Center for Nonproliferation Studies