A two-day NATO summit in Lithuania begins on Tuesday with discussions on further support for Ukraine and the strengthening of defense against Russia. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wants the summit meeting to send a clear signal to Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. It is uncertain whether this will succeed. The allies are divided on Ukraine’s accession prospects. The dispute over Sweden’s accession was settled at the last minute.
In particular at the request of the USA, there should also be talks about further dealings with China. In Washington, Beijing’s policies are increasingly seen as a security threat. In addition to US President Joe Biden and the other heads of state and government of the 31 NATO countries, numerous guests are also expected to attend the meeting in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius. One of them is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He would like a specific invitation for his country, but is unlikely to receive it for the time being due to resistance from countries such as Germany and the USA.
What he will get, on the other hand, is a meeting with Biden: According to US information, the US President and Zelenskyy will meet for a one-to-one meeting on Wednesday as part of the upcoming summit.
Sweden, on the other hand, was given the green light to join the alliance a few hours before the start of the summit. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday evening after mediation talks with the leaders of Sweden and Turkey in the Lithuanian capital that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had withdrawn his veto on the Nordic country. Erdogan had assured that he would forward the ratification of Sweden’s accession to the Turkish parliament. Before he left for the crisis talks, Erdogan surprisingly made his country’s EU accession a condition for ending the veto, prompting EU Council President Charles Michel to take part in the consultations in Vilnius.