Nevertheless Ukraine had physical control over these nuclear weapons although it couldn’t have launched them. Ukraine also had claims to the black sea fleet and gave up on both in the years before the Budapest memorandum in which the above-mentioned security guarantees where given. In hindsight that was probably a mistake and the west should have used Russia’s weakness to break Crimea and the black sea fleet out of Russia’s hands for good to avoid future conflict and cripple Russia’s geopolitical ambitions which where always fueled by paranoia. But you can’t be that paranoid about losing sth. that you don’t have anymore.
Russia can’t be trusted to adhere to the contracts they sign. They will even invade and terrorise a country they themselves called “brothers” for a long time. It’s utterly shameful and all you have to say about this is “bUt nAtO DiD bAd tHiNgS!!1”.
It’s not contradictory but thanks for repeating my sentence with different wording.
Sovereign countries can choose their alliances freely. Of course it’s Russian paranoia to be fearful of the NATO expansion. NATO would not start WW3 by invading Russia. And NATO expansion is the direct consequence of Russian imperialism. Russia’s neighbors are afraid of Russia which has proven time and time again that it can and will use military force to subjugate it’s neighbors. We’ve seen it under the reign of the Tsar. We’ve seen it during soviet times and we’ve seen it in modern Russia with Chechenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine… You have to be willingly blind to overlook all these cases of military aggression out of paranoia and megalomania. Do you think the largest country on earth was created by peaceful negotiations and hugs? It’s absolutely ridiculous.
Your “ample evidence” is fabricated by the spin doctors in Moscow. Congratulations for drinking up that propaganda so willingly.