Bill Clinton: 'personal stake' in Ukraine plight, after agreeing to deal taking away country's nukes

Former President Bill Clinton appears to be expressing regret for his participation in a 1994 agreement among Russia, Ukraine and the United States that asked Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons. 

Clinton said Tuesday he feels a “personal stake” in Ukraine's struggle to thwart Russia's invasion, which in now roughly 14 months old, after having agreed to the roughly 30-year-old deal. 

Clinton, a Democrat president from 1993 to 2001, made the acknowledgement in an interview Tuesday with RTÉ, Ireland's National Television and Radio Broadcaster.

"I feel a personal stake because I got them [Ukraine] to agree to give up their nuclear weapons," he said.

Clinton also said nobody believes "Russia would have pulled this stunt if Ukraine still had their weapons."

The agreement got rid of nuclear weapons still on Ukraine's territory after the dismantling of the Soviet Union.

The agreement also asked for Russia to respect Ukraine's sovereignty and borders, a deal Clinton now seems to consider shortsighted.

In the deal, Clinton offered former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk $700 million and "strong security assurances" in exchange for the surrendering of the weapons.

Clinton also said he knows now-Russia President Vladimir Putin never supported the agreement then-President Boris Yeltsin made never to interfere with Ukraine's territorial boundaries.

Clinton said Yeltsin agreed to the deal because he wanted Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons and that Ukraine didn't want to give up the weapons "because they thought that was the only thing that protected them from an expansionist Russia."

Clinton also said he thinks Putin foresaw Ukraine weakening and used it as an advantage in invading Crimea in 2014. 

"When it became convenient to him, President Putin broke [the deal] and first took Crimea," he said about Russia annexing Crimea. "And I feel terrible about it because Ukraine is a very important country."