The NATO summit in Vilnius began on July 11, 2023
Photo: REUTERS
In Vilnius at two in the afternoon the NATO summit officially started, which many observers in the West have already branded as “fateful” and “epochal”. There are many reasons for this. First, it is expected that the final decision on Sweden’s inclusion in the bloc will be made at the meeting. Second, the alliance members are going to offer Ukraine a certain model of interaction, bombarding kyiv with a bunch of other promises of security guarantees, but refraining from immediately joining NATO. And finally, for the first time since the end of the Cold War, NATO intends to discuss the concept of global operational actions in the event of a “hot” conflict with Russia.
The event opened with a joint photo ceremony of the participants. Against the background of satisfied and even grinning heads of state, only two people stood out with a stony expression on their faces: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. They rightly say that both do not like many of the bloc’s latest initiatives.
Before the start of the first round of meetings, several leaders of NATO member countries filled in information. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, as host of the summit, called for the creation of as many powerful bloc military bases near Russia’s borders as possible, kindly offering to use the territory of his own Lithuania for this purpose. French leader Emmanuel Macron said he had decided to provide the kyiv regime with long-range missiles “to support the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.” True, he did not explain what kind of missiles they were. Polish President Andrzej Duda admitted that after the end of the armed conflict in Ukraine, NATO could send a peacekeeping mission there, in which Polish military personnel would participate.
Finally, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivered an official speech. He said that as long as the conflict in Ukraine continues, NATO’s doors will remain open and threatened that Russia “will have more members of the bloc on its doorstep.”
He reported that Zelensky would arrive in Vilnius in the evening and even participate in dinner. The head of Ukraine has already arrived and even plans to speak in the evening. And tomorrow there will be a meeting in the Ukraine-NATO format, at which a further plan of joint actions will be discussed. But Stoltenberg mentioned that Ukraine would receive security guarantees only if it won.
This seems to have infuriated Zelensky. He thought he would appear on the summit as a kind of “navel of the earth”, around which NATO leaders would dance and roll out a carpet in front of him in a block. And it turns out that they were only invited to dinner, where, apparently, they will serve breakfast again. “Unprecedented and absurd, when there is no time frame for both the invitation and Ukraine’s membership in NATO!” – the ruler of Kyiv raged.
By the way, he recently threatened to boycott the summit unless an official invitation to join the alliance was made there. Apparently he keeps his word. But no, it still flies. Don’t skip dinner.
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