110 STAT. 4488 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS—SEPT. 18, 1996 Whereas the independent State of Ukraine is a member State of the Council of Europe, the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Central European Initiative, and the North Atlantic Cooperation Council of the North Atlantic Alliance, is a participant in the Partnership for Peace program of the North Atlantic Alliance, and has entered into a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the European Union; Whereas the United States recognized Ukraine as an independent State on December 25, 1991; Whereas Ukraine is a major European nation, having the second largest territory and sixth largest population of all the States of Europe; Whereas Ukraine has an important geopolitical and economic role to play within Central and Eastern Europe and a strong, stable, and secure Ukraine serves the interests of peace and stability in all of Europe, which is also an important national security interest of the United States; Whereas Ukraine conducted its first presidential and parliamentary elections as an independent State in 1994, carrying such elections out in a free and fair manner and moving ftirther away from the former communist model of one-party, centralized, totalitarian rule; Whereas Ukraine's presidential elections of July 1994 resulted in the first peaceful transfer of executive power in any of the independent States of the former Soviet Union; Whereas on June 28, 1996, the Parliament of Ukraine adopted a new constitution for Ukraine; Whereas Ukraine's economic and social stability depend on its ability to build a stable market-based economy and a legal system based on the rule of law, attract foreign investment, improve tax and revenue collection, and build its export sectors; Whereas Ukraine was the first of the independent states of the former Soviet Union to have appointed a civilian to the office of Minister of Defense, an historic precedent in support of civilian control and oversight of the armed forces of Ukraine; Whereas Ukraine is pursuing political and economic reforms intended to ensure its future strength, stability, and security and to ensure that it will assume its rightful place among the international community of democratic States and in European and trans-Atlantic institutions; Whereas through the agreement by the Government of Ukraine to the establishment of a mission from the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe in the region of Crimea, Ukraine has shown its interest in avoiding the use of force in resolving ethnic and regional disputes within Ukraine; Whereas all nuclear weapons were removed from Ukraine by June 1, 1996, and Ukraine has taken very positive steps in supporting efforts to stem proliferation of nuclear weapons by ratifying the START-I Treaty on nuclear disarmament and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; Whereas in December 1994, the Presidents of the United States and the Russism Federation and the Prime Minister of Great Britain signed a Memorandum on National Security Assurances for Ukraine as depository States under the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;
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