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NATO summit paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) leaders are meeting in the Spanish capital of Madrid and announced, this Wednesday (29), a significant strengthening of forces on the eastern edge of the alliance, as the war in Ukraine shows no signs. of deceleration.

Speaking to the NATO Secretary General, US President Joe Biden listed new troop movements, as well as deployments of military equipment and installations, to demonstrate the importance of security in the face of Moscow’s aggression.

“The United States and our allies, we are going to step up – we are stepping up. We are proving that NATO is needed now more than ever and is as important as ever,” Biden said.

He said the US will establish a permanent headquarters for the Fifth Army Corps in Poland, maintain an extra 3,000-strong rotating brigade in Romania, increase rotating deployments in the Baltic states, send two more squadrons of F-35 fighter jets to the UK. Kingdom and an additional air defense station and other capabilities in Germany and Italy.

“Together with our allies, we will ensure that NATO is ready to face threats from all directions – in every domain, land, air and sea,” Biden said.

The leaders enter the talks on the back of a diplomatic victory after Turkey withdrew its objections to Finland and Sweden’s NATO membership, setting the stage for the two long-standing neutrals to enter the defensive bloc.

A beefed up US military presence in Eastern Europe and two new NATO members – one that shares a more than 1200km border with Russia – is exactly the outcome Russian President Vladimir Putin hoped to avoid when he invaded Ukraine more than 1200 km ago. four months.

“I said that Putin is looking for the ‘Finlandization’ of Europe. He will achieve the “Otanization” of Europe. And that’s exactly what he didn’t want, but exactly what needs to be done to ensure Europe’s security. And I think it’s necessary,” Biden said.

However, even if Putin’s goals have backfired and the conflict continues, the momentum is favoring Russia. That left Biden and other Western leaders this week looking for ways to alter the course of the war.

In Madrid, leaders plan to agree on important new security commitments not seen since the Cold War.

On Tuesday, Biden said he was sending two additional destroyers to the Naval Station of Rota, Spain, with the aim of bolstering the US maritime presence in the region.

He will make additional announcements on Wednesday about increasing force on “land, sea and air”, according to his top national security adviser, who said US forces along NATO’s eastern border will move “in steady state” for the region.

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“By the end of the summit, what you will see is a more robust, more effective, more credible in combat, more capable and more determined force posture to take into account a more acute and aggravated Russian threat,” the security adviser said. national Jake Sullivan.

Earlier this week, the US and European countries applied new rounds of sanctions to Moscow, banned new imports of its gold and agreed to cap the price of its oil.

New rounds of security assistance, including a US-supplied missile defense system, have been added to the lineup of artillery and ammunition flowing into Ukraine.

Whether this is enough to fundamentally alter the way the war is being played remains to be seen. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will address the NATO meeting this week, told leaders at the G7 summit in Germany that he wanted their help in organizing a major initiative to win the war by the end of the year.

Leaders fear that the rising cost of the war, seen in rising gas and food prices, could lead to reduced support for Ukraine in the coming months. Some have warned that fatigue is setting in, adding to growing concerns that the alliance could break apart.

“When we agreed that we would respond, we recognized that there would be some costs to our people, our imposition of sanctions on Russia. But our people came together. They rose up and remained strong,” Biden added on Tuesday as he was meeting with King Felipe VI at Madrid’s Royal Palace.

It was during that meeting that Biden received word that Turkey was dropping its objections to Finland and Sweden’s applications to join NATO, ending a months-long standoff with NATO’s most defiant member.

In order to get a deal ahead of the summit, Biden shook off the prospect of a formal bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a phone call.

The leaders will meet on Wednesday to discuss the myriad issues that have soured the relationship between Washington and Ankara in recent years.

Biden also plans to meet with the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of South Korea to focus on the North Korean threat.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and President Yoon Suk Yeol are guests at the NATO summit, but their countries’ ties have recently deteriorated amid disputes over war stories, making a joint meeting with Biden a rarity.

Source: CNN Brasil

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