European leaders hit back at defense spending criticism
NATO members are purported to spend a minimum of two% of their GDP on defense — but many do not.
The prime ministers of Spain, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and the president of Poland, discuss their spending plans with CNBC.
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Turkey won’t harm its ties with Russia while strengthening relations with West: official
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets together with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia August 5, 2022.
Turkish Presidential Press Office | Reuters
Turkey won’t hurt its relations with Russia, at the same time as it forges stronger ties with its Western allies, Reuters cited a senior Turkish official as saying.
Turkey relieved NATO allies this week, because it lifted its 14-month long opposition to Sweden joining the alliance, enabling the expansion of the defense organization that Russia says is a root explanation for its invasion of Ukraine.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his country’s leverage as a NATO member to extract concessions from other states, including the formation of a European Union reform group to revive a path for Turkey to hitch the EU — a process that saw tumultuous starts and stops, ultimately meeting failure over previous many years.
Turkey refused to partake in Western sanctions on Russia, and its trade with Moscow ballooned in the last yr consequently.
— Natasha Turak
Zelenskyy says ‘unprecedented and absurd’ if NATO doesn’t offer Ukraine a membership timeframe
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during an official visit in Sofia, Bulgaria, on July 6, 2023.
Stringer | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday said it’s “unprecedented and absurd” that there is no such thing as a timeframe for the invitation of membership of his country into the NATO military alliance.
“It looks like there is no such thing as a readiness either to ask Ukraine to NATO or to make it a member of the Alliance,” he said on Telegram, in response to a Google translation. “For Russia, this implies motivation to proceed its terror.”
Zelenskyy shall be attending the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the group’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said earlier in the day. The NATO chief stressed that Ukraine would receive a “strong, positive message on the path forward” regarding its membership.
Kyiv has been stalwartly pushing for accession into NATO following Russia’s full-scale invasion, but officials of the security alliance have previously said its membership is unlikely to proceed while war is waged on Ukrainian territories.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Kremlin says moving NATO infrastructure closer to Russia is a ‘mistake’
The Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate constructing behind Spasskaya Tower, while the roof shows what appears to be marks from the recent drone incident, in central Moscow, Russia, May 4, 2023.
Stringer | Reuters
Europeans “don’t seem to know” that moving NATO infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders is a “mistake,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in Reuters-reported comments on Tuesday, as NATO holds a serious summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Peskov told a press briefing that NATO’s eastward expansion in Europe was what fomented the war in Ukraine to start with. Western nations hold that Ukraine and other eastern European states reserve the sovereign right to hitch whatever alliance they select, and that Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 was an unprompted act of aggression.
Peskov added that Sweden’s now impending entry into NATO has negative implications for Russian national security. He said the Kremlin shall be making “deep evaluation” of the statements made at the NATO summit and will take needed measures to make sure Russia’s security.
— Natasha Turak
Security situation in eastern Europe is ‘deteriorating,’ Lithuanian president says
The safety situation in eastern Europe and particularly the Baltics has deteriorated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but much more so of late, the leader of Lithuania said.
Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuania’s president, on the opening day of the annual NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
Audrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images
“The safety situation in our region is deteriorating. It isn’t improving, it’s even not stable,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the NATO summit in Vilnius.
“We see additional capabilities sent to Kaliningrad region. Belarus as an in depth ally of Russia is playing a more and more vital role. So we now have to bear in mind that we now have to take the decisions to strengthen all of the eastern flank,” he said.
Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave inside Lithuania. Nauseda called for a more unified defense approach amongst NATO members and greater integration of defense systems between Nordic and Baltic countries.
His comments followed news of the apparent relocation of Wagner group forces, the Russian private mercenary group, to Belarus following a mysterious failed mutiny in late June.
— Natasha Turak
Nordic states in NATO are a ‘threat to nobody’: Norwegian prime minister
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Norway’s Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt speak prior to the official opening of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11, 2023.
Petras Malukas | Afp | Getty Images
Nordic states in NATO are a threat to nobody and have united behind the alliance for common defense and deterrence purposes, Norway’s prime minister told CNBC.
For the first time in history, all of the Nordics will now be in NATO, creating — together with the Baltic states and Germany — what some are dubbing a “NATO lake” in northern Europe. This follows the recent development of Turkey agreeing to confess Sweden into the alliance, after greater than a yr of opposition.
Asked if this might draw retribution from Russia, Norwegian leader Jonas Gahr Store said, “Give it some thought this manner; we’re all members of NATO, but we do not change as nations. We’re a threat to none. We wish peace and stability in our region.”
“The threat has come from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine,” the prime minister added. “That led Finland and Sweden to make historic decisions to hitch NATO … but we’ll still be Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark from the Nordic perspective. We shall be contributing to peace, stability and cooperation, but there also needs to be solid defense and deterrence, and that has been consequently of Russia’s aggression, that could be a fact.”
— Natasha Turak
Russia’s invasion expanded quite than reined in the NATO alliance: Stoltenberg
“[Putin] went to war because he wanted less NATO. He’s getting more NATO,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of the start of the U.S.-led coalition’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Russia’s war in Ukraine has proven counterproductive to President Vladimir Putin’s goals of reining in the enlargement of the NATO military alliance, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday.
“[Putin] went to war because he wanted less NATO. He’s getting more NATO,” Stoltenberg said ahead of the start of the U.S.-led coalition’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. “Moscow, President Putin, doesn’t have a veto on NATO enlargement.”
The Kremlin cited national security risks from Kyiv’s ambitions to enter the NATO alliance, before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last yr. Since then, Ukraine has doubled down on its intentions to hitch each NATO and the EU, while Finland has been accepted as a member. On Monday, Turkey finally endorsed Sweden’s membership bid.
— Ruxandra Iordache
NATO will send a ‘clear, positive message’ on path forward for Ukraine, Stoltenberg says
NATO will send a “clear, positive message” on the path forward for Ukraine and its potential membership to the western defense alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick during the Vilnius summit Tuesday.
When asked whether Ukraine could rely on any concrete guarantees of security, the NATO chief replied, “Essentially the most imminent task is that Ukraine stays a sovereign independent nation in Ukraine.”
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“On the membership,” he added, “we’ll send a transparent, positive message on the path forward. Text on communique shall be made public inside hours. I expect that allies will agree that is obvious on the must move Ukraine closer to NATO.”
Kyiv has been pushing for NATO membership since well before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Joining the alliance is now more vital than ever to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government as they seek to project more strength in repelling Russia’s invasion, but many NATO leaders fear pulling the organization’s members right into a war with Russia.
— Natasha Turak
Ukraine now much closer to NATO than in 2008, NATO’s Stoltenberg says
“Ukraine has come a good distance since we made that call in 2008 that the next step shall be a membership motion plan,” said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Kyiv’s ties to NATO have deepened since a 2008 summit in which it was agreed that Georgia and Ukraine would join the U.S.-led military alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday at a coalition summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“Ukraine has come a good distance since we made that call in 2008 that the next step shall be a membership motion plan,” he said.
“Ukraine is way closer to NATO, so I feel the time has come to reflect that in also the NATO decisions. So, all put together, including that we made clear that Ukraine will turn into a member, we moved the membership motion plan, we make their forces interoperable NATO forces, we establish the NATO-Ukraine council, all that together will send a really strong and positive message from NATO to Ukraine.”
Ukraine’s prospective NATO accession shall be certainly one of the key discussion points of the Vilnius summit, which has already seen Turkey finally endorse Sweden’s membership bid.
Russia launches second air strike against Kyiv this month
Russian forces carried out a drone strike against Kyiv early Tuesday, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv military administration, said on Telegram, in response to a Google translation.
Moscow deployed Iranian-made Shahed drones, which were destroyed before they may hit their targets. This was the Kremlin’s second air offensive against the Ukrainian capital this month, Popko said.
“Tonight, our region suffered one other attack by the Russians. This time the enemy used drones. The air alert lasted almost two hours,” Kyiv regional military head Ruslan Kravchenko said on Telegram, in response to a Google translation. “All enemy targets were shot down by air defense forces. No hits were recorded. There are not any victims.”
CNBC couldn’t independently confirm developments on the ground.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Ukraine’s NATO membership still looks far off as Kyiv pushes to hitch alliance
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The U.S. and another NATO member states are usually not willing to permit Ukraine to hitch the alliance right away, despite Kyiv’s repeated calls to hitch and insistence that its membership needs to be approved during this week’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“By way of Ukraine itself, President Biden, the Germans, and others, the French, are usually not willing to present Ukraine membership right away,” Ariel Cohen, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, told CNBC.
“President Biden said after the war is over Ukraine will get the membership,” he said. “The large query after all is that if all of the territory of Ukraine just isn’t liberated, what about that? Does that commit NATO to a war against Russia to liberate the Ukrainian territory? Probably not.”
The first concern amongst the United States, France and Germany is the role of Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which stipulates that each one members must defend any member state that’s attacked by a non-NATO state. Consequently of that, NATO doesn’t accept recent member states which might be currently at war or have land occupied by an adversarial power.
“The vast majority of the alliance stands firmly with us,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message Monday.
“After we applied for membership of NATO, we spoke frankly: de facto, Ukraine is already in the alliance,” he said. “Our weapons are the weapons of the alliance. Our values are what the alliance believes in … Vilnius must confirm all this.”
— Natasha Turak
Ukraine says Russian forces carried out 334 air strikes in the last week
A Russian soldier walks in the rubble in Mariupol’s eastern side, where fierce fighting takes place between Russian and pro-Russia forces and Ukraine on March 15, 2022.
Maximilian Clarke | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Ukraine said in the past week Russian forces launched 39 missiles and 334 air strikes across Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar said on the Telegram platform.
Meanwhile, Maliar said that Ukrainian forces carried out greater than 79 strikes on Russian positions and on 11 ammunition depots. Ukraine also destroyed 24 Russian anti-aircraft missile systems and nearly 40 Iranian-made Shahed precision-attack suicide drones.
— Amanda Macias
Biden welcomes Turkey’s decision to bring Sweden into NATO alliance
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks before signing the agreement for Finland and Sweden to be included in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the East Room of the White House on August 9, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
President Joe Biden hailed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to ratify Sweden’s ascension protocols, bringing the Nordic country one step closer to NATO membership.
“I stand able to work with President Erdogan and Türkiye on enhancing defense and deterrence in the Euro-Atlantic area,” Biden wrote in an announcement.
“I stay up for welcoming Prime Minister [Ulf] Kristersson and Sweden as our thirty second NATO ally. And I thank Secretary General Stoltenberg for his steadfast leadership,” Biden added.
Last May, Sweden and Finland began the formal means of applying to NATO. All 30 members of the alliance must ratify the countries’ entry into the world’s strongest military alliance.
Last August, Biden signed ratification documents to bring Finland and Sweden into NATO. In April, Finland joined the alliance as its thirty first member.
— Amanda Macias
Turkey agrees to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership, NATO chief says
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson agreed to maneuver forward with Sweden’s ascension to the NATO alliance.
“That is an historic step which makes all NATO allies stronger and safer,” Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter.
Sweden formally applied for NATO membership a yr ago alongside its Nordic neighbor, Finland.
Each Finland and Sweden already meet a lot of the requirements to be NATO allies. A few of the requirements include having a functioning democratic political system, a willingness to supply economic transparency and the ability to make military contributions to NATO missions.
Despite some initial sticking points with Turkey, Finland joined the military alliance in April.
— Amanda Macias