Sweden weighs NATO; McDonald’s will leave Russia
In the recent withdrawal of the company from Russia, McDonald’s said on Monday that it has begun the process of selling its Russian operations, which include 850 restaurants that employ 62,000 people.
The fast food giant temporarily closed its stores in early March but still paid employees. On Monday, which pointed to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, it said owning a company “is no longer sustainable, nor is it in line with McDonald’s values.”
It is now trying to get a Russian buyer to hire its workers and pay them until the sale is completed. McDonald’s opened in 1990 in the then Soviet Union.
In another historical feature, the Swedish government debated a membership in NATO on Monday. The nation, which has been non-aligned for over 200 years, can formally apply for membership before the end of the day.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken spent the weekend discussing the war in Ukraine with NATO allies, as well as Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister.
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Recent developments:
►Sweden’s Secretary of Defense will meet on Monday in Washington Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, on The Nordic nation’s Ministry of Defense announced.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said on Sunday that 227 children had died and more than 400 had been injured since the invasion began.
Sweden is preparing for a historic shift, NATO membership
STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday to her country’s parliament that she sees “a historic change in our country’s security policy line” as the country prepares to apply for membership in NATO.
“Sweden needs formal security guarantees that come with membership in NATO,” Andersson said during a parliamentary debate, adding that the country acted together with neighboring Finland.
The debate is expected to be a formality as there is a clear majority of legislators to join NATO. Sweden is expected to formally apply for membership in the military alliance with 30 members later on Monday.
The move in Sweden, which had been outside military alliances since the Napoleonic Wars, followed Finland announced on Sunday that it will also try to join NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
– Sweden is best defended within NATO, Andersson said. “Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that the trend (of Russia’s actions) will reverse in the foreseeable future.”
– Impartial Press
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The Russian military offensive is “losing momentum” in Ukraine, says a NATO official
Almost three months later shock the world by invading UkraineRussia’s military progress in Ukraine is “losing momentum” and “not going as planned”, according to NATO officials.
“The brutal invasion (of) Russia is losing momentum,” NATO Deputy Secretary-General Mircea Geoana told reporters in Berlin. “We know that with the bravery of the Ukrainian people and army, and with our help, Ukraine can win this war.”
Top NATO diplomats, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, met on Sunday in Berlin to discuss further aid to Ukraine.
While Moscow lost ground on the diplomatic front, Russian forces also failed to make territorial gains in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine said it was repelling Russian offensives in the east, and Western military officials said the campaign, which Moscow launched there after its forces failed to capture the capital Kyiv, has slowed to a snail’s pace.
Will Putin use a nuclear weapon?
From almost the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has provoked the use of a nuclear weapon.
But most political scientists, nuclear experts, Western officials and experienced Kremlin observers say it is highly unlikely that he would detonate a nuclear weapon to break a stalemate over Russia’s stalled offensive in Ukraine, now in its third month.
“If the conflict in Ukraine essentially remains an open conflict between Russian and Ukrainian forces, where the West plays more of a proxy role, if we stay where we are today in terms of Western involvement in the conflict, I see no probability whatsoever,” said Dmitri Trenin, until recently head of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank.
Read more at Putin’s strategy here.
– Kim Hjelmgaard
Contribution: Associated Press