US President Joe Biden will travel to a special NATO summit in Brussels next Thursday. The White House said Tuesday in Washington that Biden wanted to assure Europeans of the United States’ “unwavering support” in the Ukraine war. In the Belgian capital, the American president also wants to participate in an EU summit that is already planned.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced Biden’s trip to Brussels for March 24. Shortly before, the secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, had convened a special summit for the 30 countries of the alliance.
Increases pressure on the Kremlin
On the same day, Biden wants to meet with the EU heads of state and government, who will meet for a regular summit on March 24-25. According to Psakis, this is the economic price of the war in Ukraine for Moscow and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel welcomed the meeting with Biden. “Transatlantic unity and alignment remain critical to increasing pressure on the Kremlin to end this pointless war,” von der Leyen wrote on Twitter.
For US President Joe Biden NATO’s extraordinary summit will be the first travel abroad after attending the G20 summit in Rome and the subsequent climate summit in Glasgow last fall. Since he took office in January last year Biden only traveled abroad twice so far.
In June of last year Biden at the G7 summit in Cornwall and at NATO summits and of the EU in Brussels. The US president had joined forces with allies against Beijing and Moscow tried. “Russia and China is trying to open a gap in our transatlantic solidarity”, he stressed in Brussels. She then met with Putin for a summit in Geneva.
Stoltenberg: North America and Europe must stay together
According to Stoltenberg, the NATO summit is about “further strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defense” in the Ukraine war. “North America and Europe must stand together at this critical time,” the Norwegian stressed on Twitter. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov is said to be connected by video. Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is expected to attend the consultations in the Belgian capital.
that in the summit Powerful decisions will be made in the next week is considered quite unlikely. However, it must be discussed, among other things, whether the NATO with a substantial and long-term reinforcement of the eastern flank in response to Russia’s drive west.
Scholz rules out NATO military intervention
Despite the continuous Russian advance in Ukraine, the increasing number of victims and the destruction, Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz concludes the military intervention NATO the end. The West remains confident in the sanctions imposed on Russia, the foreign minister said at the “world“-Economic Summit 2022 at Casa Axel Springer. “We will not establish no-fly zones over Ukraine. That would mean a direct military confrontation with Russia, with Russian fighter jets.“the Chancellor said. “I agree with US President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron and the other allies that there will be no armed conflict between NATO and Russia can give. Nobody can want that.”
So far they deliver NATO member states, however, have bilateral anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft missiles. and other military equipment to the partner country. There are also ammunition and financial deliveries. and humanitarian aid in the millions. These include medical supplies for the Ukrainian armed forces. The diplomats stressed that the military support was not provided through NATO as an organization, but based on the decisions of the national government. (agencies)
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