Thursday the State Department released a slightly informative video about why the United States placed sanctions on certain Russians. While the video paints a basic picture of what is going on in Ukraine it fails to address a key issue.
Russia’s invasion of Crimea was in clear violation of the 1994 Budapest Memorandums on Security Assurances, something that is never mention in the video. The memorandum states:
The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to Ukraine, in accordance with the principles of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.
In return the Ukrainian government agreed to hand over its stockpile of nuclear weapons, which at the time was the third largest in the world.