Following urgent high-level talks, Alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that “we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO”. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-standing non-aligned status and apply for NATO membership. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had blocked the move, urging the Scandinavian couple to change their stance on Kurdish rebels, whom Turkey considers terrorists. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said the leaders of the three countries signed a joint agreement after talks on Tuesday. Turkey has said it “got what it wanted”, including “full co-operation … in the fight against” guerrilla groups.
The summit will determine the future course of the alliance
The deal comes at the start of a crucial summit dominated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. US President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders have arrived in Madrid for a summit that will determine the course of the alliance for years to come. Stoltenberg said the meeting would set out a plan for the alliance “in a more dangerous and unpredictable world”. “In order to be able to defend ourselves in a more dangerous world, we need to invest more in our defense,” Stoltenberg said. Only nine of NATO’s 30 members meet the organization’s target of spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense. Spain, which hosts the summit, spends only half of it. CLOCKS Justin Trinto talks about Canada’s commitments to NATO:
Trinto on Canada’s role in an expanding NATO
Prime Minister Justin Trinto is responding to a question about Canada’s commitments to NATO as the organization announces a huge jump in troop numbers in its high-alert force. At the top of the agenda of the leaders in the meetings on Wednesday and Thursday is the strengthening of the defense against Russia and the support of Ukraine. Biden, who arrived with the goal of boosting the resolve of any volatile ally, said NATO was “as united and galvanized as I think we ever were.” The invasion of Moscow on February 24 destroyed European security and brought city bombings and bloody land battles back to the continent. NATO, which had begun to turn its attention to terrorism and other non-state threats, had to face rival Russia once again. “Ukraine is now facing a barbarity we have not seen in Europe since World War II,” Stoltenberg said. Erdogan, the central, arrives at the Torreon air base in Madrid on Tuesday. The heads of state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will meet for a NATO summit in Madrid from Tuesday to Thursday. (Sergio Perez / The Associated Press) Diplomats and leaders from Turkey, Sweden and Finland have previously held a series of talks in a bid to break the deadlock over Turkey’s opposition to enlargement. The leaders of the three countries met for more than two hours with Stoltenberg on Tuesday before the agreement was announced. Erdogan criticizes what he sees as the relaxed approach of Sweden and Finland to groups that Ankara sees as threats to national security, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its Syrian expansion. US support for Syrian Kurdish fighters in the fight against Islamic State has also angered Turkey for years. LISTEN Why Turkey opposes Sweden and Finland joining NATO: The Current15: 34 Why Turkey opposes Sweden and Finland joining NATO Turkey opposes Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO. We speak with Steven Erlanger, the New York Times’ Chief Diplomatic Correspondent for Europe. and Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, Senior Fellow at the European Council on External Relations. Turkey has asked Finland and Sweden to extradite wanted individuals and lift arms restrictions imposed after Turkey’s 2019 military invasion of northeastern Syria. Ending the stalemate will allow NATO leaders to focus on their key issue: an increasingly unpredictable and aggressive Russia.
Kiev mayor urges alliance to do “whatever it takes” to end war
A Russian rocket attack on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk on Monday was a grim reminder of the horrors of war. Some saw the timeline as the leaders of the Group of Seven met in Germany shortly before NATO, as a message from Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will address NATO leaders via video on Wednesday, described the attack on the mall as a “terrorist” act. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko traveled to Madrid to urge the alliance to provide his country with “everything it needs” to end the war. “Wake up, guys. This is happening now. You will be next, it will be knocking on your door in the blink of an eye,” Klitschko told reporters at the summit. Stoltenberg said Monday that NATO allies would agree at the summit to increase the alliance’s rapid reaction force almost eightfold, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops. The troops will be based in their home countries, but will be dedicated to specific countries on the east side of NATO, where the alliance plans to build up stockpiles of equipment and ammunition. CLOCKS G7 leaders announce new aid to Ukraine:
G7 leaders pledge more support for Ukraine
Leaders announced new aid to Ukraine and tougher sanctions on Russia at the G7 summit in Germany. NATO has also announced that it is stepping up its rapid reaction force in Europe in response to growing tensions. Below the surface, there are tensions in NATO over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine needs to make to end the fighting. There are also differences over how tough the line is to be taken against China in NATO’s new Strategic Concept – the set of priorities and goals once a decade. The latest document, published in 2010, did not mention China at all. The new idea is expected to define NATO’s approach to issues ranging from cybersecurity to climate change – and China’s growing economic and military reach and the growing importance and power of the Indo-Pacific region. For the first time, the leaders of Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand are attending the summit as guests. Some European members are wary of the US hard line in Beijing and do not want China as an adversary. In the Strategic Concept, NATO is to declare Russia the number one threat. Russia’s state space agency, Roscosmos, marked the start of the summit with the release of satellite imagery and coordinates of the Madrid conference room, along with those of the White House, the Pentagon and government offices in Paris and Paris. Berlin. . The agency said NATO was going to declare Russia an enemy at the summit, adding that it was publishing exact coordinates “just in case”.
