An informal meeting of the Foreign Ministers of the NATO member countries will be held today and tomorrow in Berlin. The object of the meeting will be their long-term strategy towards Russia (after its invasion of Ukraine), along with prospects of joining the Atlantic Alliance of Finland and Sweden.
This session will be held in its shadow Finnish President Sauli Niinisto had a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Scandinavian country’s imminent bid to join NATO.
In the candidacy of Finland Moscow opposes, announced Helsinki. Finland’s official decision on joining the Euro-Atlantic Alliance is expected to be announced tomorrow, Sunday, while neighboring Sweden is also expected to announce its decision on NATO membership in the coming days.
Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde and Finnish counterpart Peka Haavisto are expected to attend the summit in Berlin.
The two-day meeting, hosted by German Foreign Minister Analena Berbock and attended by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, is expected to begin the final phase of negotiations on the NATO Strategic Concept, the guiding document for the next years of the alliance. .
The Strategic Concept is expected to provide a long-term response to growing tensions with Russia, including clarifying how to further strengthen NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe and, for the first time, guidance on China.
The final draft is expected to be adopted by NATO leaders at their upcoming summit in Madrid in June.
The issue of how to respond to the consequences of the Russian war is also at the heart of the talks at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ meeting that began yesterday and will end today in northern Germany.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba, who attended the meeting, warned of a breakdown in negotiations on imposing an embargo on Russian oil, while Britain voted in favor of providing more weapons to Ukraine.
The EU also announced yesterday that it plans to provide an additional € 500 million in aid to the Ukrainian armed forces, which is expected to be approved by EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday.
It is worth noting that Turkish President Erdogan said yesterday that it is not possible for Turkey to support plans for Sweden and Finland to join NATO because these Scandinavian countries “host many terrorist organizations”.
For its part, the United States, through its representative, said that they are working to clarify the comments made by the President of Turkey on the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. However, Ankara’s position in the Alliance has not changed because of these statements, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday.
Source: Capital
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