December 17, 2007 (LPAC)--Mikhail Khvostov, the ambassador of Belarus to the United States, today accused the United States of violating the memorandum they had signed together with the Belarus, Russia and Great Britain in 1994 by which Belarus agreed to sign the NPT as a non-nuclear weapons state, the Soviet-era weapons stationed earlier in Belarus having been transferred to Russia. Ambassador Khvostov said the U.S. had violated the so-called Budapest Memorandum by imposing sanctions on the Belarussian Concern for Oil and Chemistry "Belneftekhim."

The memorandum contains, Khvostov said, "a written obligation by the United States to Belarus to refrain from economic coercion designed to subordinate to the United States' own interest the exercise by Belarus of the rights inherent in its sovereignty and thus to secure advantages of any kind." This means, Khvostov went on, that the United States "has given a written commitment to Belarus under international treaty not to impose economic sanctions of any kind on Belarus for political reasons." He also indicated that this would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution, which regards all treaties as the supreme law of the land.

Ambassador Khvostov also noted that the failure to establish a "missile non-proliferation regime served to undermine the Non- Proliferation Treaty." "The European NMD will have serious implications for the NPT regime," Khvostov said, "it will undermine global strategic stability, and will mean for the European population a greater risk of military confrontation.

"If a country finds itself in a number of overlapping circles on its worst-case scenario maps, the security pressures are too high," he warned. "The country is then likely to consider, or reconsider, its own nuclear option."

The statement comes a few days after a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Belarus for discussions with President Lukashenka. There have also been talk that Russia, in response to the U.S. missiles in Poland might also allow short-range Russian missiles deployed in Belarus.