On Tuesday and Wednesday, a meeting of NATO, the military alliance that includes a large part of Western countries, was held in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The meeting was attended by the presidents or prime ministers of 31 member states, as well as those of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and Ukraine, which are not part of the alliance. The issue that was most discussed was the possibility for Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia more than a year ago, to join the alliance. At the meeting the general atmosphere appeared rather jovial, and many photos portray the leaders in very friendly attitudes to each other while laughing together.
No concrete progress was made at the meeting on Ukraine’s entry, as was the case for Sweden: after declaring himself against it for more than a year, the Turkish president confirmed that he would support membership. It was the last major obstacle preventing Sweden from joining the alliance.