The leaders of seven NATO countries stressed the importance of Ukraine’s NATO membership at a meeting at the Catshuis in The Hague. They were there in preparation for the NATO summit in Vilnius in two weeks.
The summit was attended by President Klaus Iohannis (Romania), Prime Minister Alexander De Croo (Belgium), President Andrzej Duda (Poland), Prime Minister Jens Gahr Støre (Norway), Prime Minister Edi Rama (Albania) and the President Gitanas Nausėda (Lithuania).
Crucial
“All member states want Ukraine to join NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a closing press conference. “It will be a crucial summit,” said Prime Minister Rutte. “We need to send a clear signal to Ukraine at the summit that its future is definitely within NATO.”
“It will be a crucial summit”
At next month’s summit, Ukraine will still not join because the country is at war. However, steps will be taken, such as establishing a NATO Council for Ukraine. Security guarantees for Ukraine will also be discussed.
Sweden
Furthermore, according to Stoltenberg, it is still possible to reach an agreement in Vilnius on Sweden’s accession. This is mainly opposed by Turkey, but also by Hungary. Sweden accepted the Turks’ demands “and now the time has come to ratify,” he said.
The different leaders also made their wishes clear. For example, Iohannis wants more attention for Moldova, the Norwegian prime minister has stressed that neighboring Sweden should quickly become a member, and the Lithuanian president has reiterated that more NATO soldiers should be stationed in the east.
He also stressed that the next NATO summit would discuss member countries’ defense spending. As far as he is concerned, the 2 percent standard is the absolute minimum, something some countries already meet.
Prigozin
Stoltenberg further said that it is too early to draw any conclusions about the presence of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries in Belarus. According to Stoltenberg, the mutiny is Russia’s internal affair. “But what has been made clear is that President Putin’s illegal war against Ukraine has deepened divisions and created new tensions in Russia.”
We don’t want chaos in Russia, Rutte stressed. According to him, this also causes greater instability in Europe. ‘We are worried.’ Following developments in Russia, further strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank will also have to be considered, he said.
Source: BNR
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