Liberation of Ukraine’s Nuclear Weapons: Lessons from U.S.-Russian-Ukrainian Cooperative Security

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

Cooperative threat reduction by Ukraine, the United States, and the Russian Federation in the 1990s successfully eliminated the world’s third largest nuclear weapons force – the ICBMs, strategic bombers, and nuclear warheads left in Ukraine when the Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991 – but current politicized narratives in all three countries misrepresent that history and undermine non-proliferation norms. This roundtable brings together a leading participant in the actual denuclearization process of the 1990s with experts on Russia, on Ukraine, and on international proliferation norms to correct the record on the history, and draw the lessons for today’s debates over nuclear threats and cooperative security.

Sub Unit

• International Relations, Security Studies, Foreign Policy

Chair

• Thomas Blanton, National Security Archive

Roundtable Members

• Sarah Bidgood, MIT

• Mariana Budjeryn, Harvard U

• Susan Koch, National Defense U

• Svetlana Vitalievna Savranskaya, George Washington U