section_path: Background/Post-Soviet relations
section_name: Post-Soviet relations
paragraph_text: Post-Soviet relations
  
  After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia and Ukraine maintained cordial relations. In return for security guarantees, Ukraine signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1994 and gave up the nuclear weapons it inherited from the Soviet Union. Russia, the US, and UK thus agreed in the Budapest Memorandum to uphold Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. In 1999, Russia signed the Charter for European Security, affirming the right of each state "to choose or change its security arrangements" and to join alliances. In 2002, Putin said Ukraine's relations with NATO were "a matter for those two partners". In 2005, Putin said that if Ukraine wanted to join NATO, "we will respect their choice, because it is their sovereign right to decide their own defence policy, and this will not worsen relations between our countries".
  
  Russia invaded Georgia in 2008 and took control of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, demonstrating Russia's willingness to use force to attain its political objectives. The US "was accused of appeasement and naivete" over its reaction to the invasion.