MADRID: NATO leaders have called Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to the alliance’s peace and security, while officially inviting Sweden and Finland to join bloc.
The leaders of the 30-country bloc, in a joint declaration after meeting in Madrid, Spain on Wednesday, endorsed a new strategic framework and launch the largest revamp of its defence and deterrence capabilities since the end of the Cold War, strengthening its forces on its eastern flank and massively ramping up the number of troops it has at high readiness.
The declaration also addressed the growing military and economic reach of China.
The leaders condemned Russia’s “appalling cruelty” in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24, while expressing “full solidarity with the government and the people of Ukraine” and President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy, who appealed for more modern artillery and funding from members of the bloc hours earlier.
Earlier in the day, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has said set high expectations for the gathering, saying it was set to be “historic and transformative” for the security alliance, which formed in 1949.
“We meet in the midst of the most serious security crisis we have faced since the Second World War,” Stoltenberg said.
The rhetoric accompanied early security pledges from the United States, with President Joe Biden announcing Washington would boost its force posture in Europe, including establishing a permanent US base in Poland, two more Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain, and two more F-35 squadrons to the United Kingdom.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, meanwhile, urged countries who do not hit the target alliance’s current target of spending two percent of gross domestic product on defence to “dig deep to restore deterrence and ensure defence in the decade ahead”. Just nine of the alliance’s members currently meet that goal.
The joint declaration said NATO would “build on our newly enhanced posture, and significantly strengthen our deterrence and defence for the long term to ensure the security and defence of all allies. All these steps will substantially strengthen NATO’s deterrence and forward defences.”
The summit opened with one of the bloc’s problems solved, after Turkey agreed on Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO. –Agencies
