NATOSource Director and Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow Jorge Benitez is quoted by the Washington Times on the Obama administration’s response to the crisis in Ukraine:
At specific issue, according to Jorge Benitez, an analyst specializing in NATO at the Atlantic Council in Washington, is a document known as the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, which Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States signed in 1994. The document states that all three countries are obligated to protect Ukraine’s independence and sovereignty.
“I have heard from Japanese officials and other government officials from other countries that they are very concerned about the U.S. response to the Russian occupation of Crimea and the limited response to the treaty we signed with Ukraine,” said Mr. Benitez. “It has hurt our credibility and we have only begun to see the damage done from that response so far.”
Mr. Turner added that while Ukraine is not a NATO member, they should be treated like one.