John Cornyn: “The Budapest Memorandum was an agreement that if Ukraine…”

“And as the Soviet Union broke up, it turned out that Ukraine, which was formerly part of the Soviet Union, had the third largest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world. The Budapest Memorandum was an agreement that if Ukraine would give up its nuclear weapons, then its territorial integrity and independence would be preserved and respected. This was a historic point in world history. It was an important step toward nuclear non proliferation and prevented the rise of a major third nuclear power in Eastern Europe.” (05:14–05:34)

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.