1993 Reports

Nuclear Weapons and Military Policy in Independent Ukraine

Kuzio, Taras

The disintegration of the former USSR in December 1991 led to the appearance of fifteen newly independent states on its territory. The question which most often troubled government circles in the West concerned the inheritance of the large nuclear and armed forces of the former USSR. Who would inherit the strategic and, more importantly, tactical nuclear weapons—both in the former USSR and, potentially, abroad? Who would lay claim to the four fleets and large air force? Would the transfer of conventional weapons to the newly independent states be peaceful, chaotic, or otherwise?