The presence of both Finland, which is already part of NATO, and Sweden, which will soon be part of NATO, strengthens the Alliance. I express my satisfaction and joy that things are moving in the right direction, President Andrzej Duda said at the NATO summit in Vilnius on Tuesday.
Ahead of the two-day summit, the Polish president expressed the hope that important decisions would be taken during the meeting for NATO’s eastern flank and the entire Alliance, as well as for Ukraine, which is defending itself against Russian aggression.
We will do everything we can to ensure peace. It is in our interest for Russia to leave the occupied territories of Ukraine, for the primacy of international law to be restored. We believe that NATO – as the strongest defense alliance in the world – will support Ukraine in this and pursue an effective policy that will lead to this
he said. He stressed that the Alliance should set out a simple and clear path for Ukraine to join NATO.
Duda drew attention to the need to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank in connection with the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus announced by Vladimir Putin and the transfer of Wagner Group mercenaries there.
This changes the security architecture in NATO’s immediate environment. This requires consultation and decisions on the part of NATO
– added.
Asked about the “green light” for Sweden’s membership of NATO from Turkey, President Duda judged that “this is very good news, we waited until the last minute”.
We hoped that this acceptance would be because it is a reasonable solution
he noticed.
“It’s going in the right direction”
The presence of both Finland, which is already part of NATO, and Sweden, which – I firmly believe – will be part of NATO in the near future, will certainly greatly strengthen the North Atlantic Alliance, especially in this part of Europe, in Central Europe. Europe, here from midnight
said President Duda. He expressed his satisfaction and joy that “things are moving in the right direction”.
Turkish president agrees Sweden to join NATO
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Monday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had agreed to submit an application for Sweden’s accession to NATO to Turkey’s Grand National Assembly.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO last year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland joined the Alliance in April this year. A country’s application must be approved by all 31 NATO members.
For the NATO summit in Vilnius, Poland has the following priorities: strengthening the deterrence and defense potential of the eastern flank by strengthening the NATO troops stationed there; reform of the NATO Rapid Reaction Force and increase its number from 40,000 to 300,000 in line with decisions taken in Madrid; the establishment of a multi-corps command of the land component in Poland based on the Operational Command; motivating all Allies to increase defense spending to at least 2 percent of GDP.
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Source: wPolityce