NATO to promise aid to the Baltics and Ukraine, calls on Turkey to admit the Nordic countries
MADRID, June 27 (Reuters) – NATO leaders will call on Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to lift his veto on Finland and Sweden’s attempt to join the military alliance when they meet for a three-day summit on Tuesday, as the West seeks to send Russia and China a signal of determination.
The Madrid summit, which takes place in the shadow of Russia’s war in Ukraine, comes at a crucial moment for the transatlantic band following failures in Afghanistan and internal strife during the time of former US President Donald Trump, who threatened to pull Washington out of the nuclear alliance. .
Negotiations between an often tough organization are still ongoing, diplomats said, but leaders also hope to be able to agree to provide more military assistance to Ukraine, increase joint defense spending, consolidate a new determination to address China’s military rise and deploy more troops. . by defending the Baltics.
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Spain, whose king will host a dinner for leaders, is also pushing for more NATO focus on the southern flank to address migration and militant groups in the Sahel region of Africa.
The leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea are expected to participate in part of the summit, part of a broader US strategy for a more confident Western presence in the Indo-Pacific region to counter China.
“We will do more to ensure that we can defend every inch of Allied territory, at any time and against all threats,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a speech last week.
Although British and US officials have advised against a Baltic call for permanent multinational forces in the region, the summit is likely to agree on a compromise on promising rapid reinforcements. Read more
Germany has already said it will put more troops ready to defend Lithuania if Russia tries to take NATO territory and Britain is expected to do the same for Estonia, while Latvia is looking to Canada to pledge more troops there.
TURKEY VETO
NATO – created in 1949 to counter the Soviet threat – has no treaty obligation to defend Ukraine, as the former Soviet republic is not a member of NATO.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion on February 24 has triggered a geopolitical change as the neutral countries, Finland and Sweden, tried to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Ukraine has formally become a candidate to join the European Union.
If accepted, Finland’s and Sweden’s entry into NATO would lead to an expansion of the alliance that the Russian leader aimed to prevent.
“I think it sends an important message to Putin. And I think it would actually strengthen the alliance considerably,” said US Senator Angus King about Finland and Sweden, following a trip to Finland, Latvia and Turkey.
But Turkey is also testing that consensus, angry over what it says is Helsinki and Stockholm’s support for Kurdish militants and arms embargoes against Ankara.
A Turkish government official involved in the talks between the three countries and NATO Stoltenberg told Reuters that it would be difficult to reach an agreement at the summit and said that Sweden and Finland must first deal with Turkish problems.
“There were meetings, but unfortunately steps were not taken that we did not expect,” the official said.
Sweden has set up a process for ongoing consultations, diplomats said. But two senior NATO diplomats said the dispute was less about technical benchmarks and more about politics.
Erdogan’s stance has proved popular at home ahead of a presidential election in June 2023 as he seeks to challenge US and European priorities. In recent weeks, he has threatened more military operations in northern Syria, created tensions with NATO member Greece and declined to join Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
“I think there is almost zero chance that this issue will be resolved at the Madrid summit,” said Soner Cagaptay, a Turkish analyst at the Washington Institute, an American think tank.
US President Joe Biden could hold a meeting with Erdogan in connection with the NATO summit to drive progress with Finland and Sweden, whose leaders will be in Madrid.
But Cagaptay added that Erdogan could try to use the situation to increase his popularity and announce a possible quick election in November before the official vote in June 2023.
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Additional reporting by Sabine Siebold, Andrea Shalal and Belen Carreno in Madrid and Jonathan Spicer and Orhan Coskun in Ankara; Edited by Nick Macfie
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