The United States will continue to strengthen Ukraine “as long as it takes.” This was stated by the US president, Joe Biden, at the end of the NATO summit in Madrid, in which he announced an extra item of 800 million dollars for weapons (768.50 million euros) for weapons in Ukraine . “Russia cannot win this war”, Biden has sentenced when four months have passed since the Russian invasion.
“Before the war started, I told [Vladímir] Putin that NATO would be stronger and more united in defending a rules-based world. And that is what we have seen today [en la cumbre que ha aprobado el nuevo concepto estratégico de la OTAN]. It is a summit that strengthens our alliance. The last time we approved a strategic concept was in 2010, and Russia was a partner and China was not mentioned. The world is changing, and this summit shows that NATO is adapting to changes, pointing to Russia and other systemic challenges, as well as opening the doors to two new members, Finland and Sweden, with a tradition of neutrality”.
In relation to the entry of Sweden and Finland into the Atlantic Alliance, Stoltenberg has assured that the organization is prepared for a possible reaction from Moscow. “Finland and Sweden are sovereign states and we are prepared for any eventuality, but what we see in Ukraine shows that Russia is completely focused on this war and we have taken note of the messages from Moscow in which it states [que su ingreso] it does not change the situation too much”, said the secretary general, adding that the accession protocols will be signed on July 5.
However, the entry of these two countries must go through the 30 Parliaments of the Member States and Turkey has already threatened to veto it again if it considers that Sweden and Finland do not comply with the agreement signed on Tuesday on terrorism. “The parliaments of 30 member states will have to ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden. If the citizens of Turkey are not satisfied with the way in which Sweden and Finland fulfill their part of the agreement, the Turkish Parliament can veto it”, the Turkish ambassador to Spain, Burak Akçapar, told elDiario.es.
Biden has also alluded to the increase in military spending by the rest of the allies. The British minister himself, Boris Johnson, announced at the press conference at the closing of the NATO summit in Madrid that “the United Kingdom will increase its military spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030”, above the 2 percent target set in 2014 for NATO members. Johnson has said that this goal “at a very different time” and has assured that the secretary of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, agrees to “start working” to establish a new objective.
Johnson underlined the importance of the unity expressed at the summit by the members of the Alliance whose defensive nature, he said, is demonstrated by the entry of Sweden and Finland, “peace-loving countries par excellence that have been neutral for decades”. The British prime minister, who yesterday announced that the United Kingdom will allocate another 1,000 million pounds (about 1,165 million euros) in military aid to Ukraine, has said that “if Ukraine were crushed or forced into a bad peace, the consequences for peace all over the world would be appalling.”
Asked about the protection of Ceuta and Melilla in case of aggression, Johnson said that he could not answer because “he is vaguely aware of their constitutional status.” “If it is Spanish territory, I imagine that they are protected by article 5”, he added.
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