2023-07-09 19:34:00
The American president reaffirmed his opposition to Ukraine’s membership in NATO. “We would be at war with Russia,” he warned.
By NB with AFP US President Joe Biden has reaffirmed his opposition to Ukraine joining NATO. © DREW ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP Published on 07/09/2023 at 7:34 p.m.
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US President Joe Biden flew to the United Kingdom on Sunday, where he will meet British King Charles III, before heading to the NATO summit in Vilnius. The Democratic leader, who took off aboard Air Force One from a military base in Delaware, will conclude his trip with a visit to the newest member of the Atlantic Alliance, Finland.
The heart of Joe Biden’s tour will be the NATO summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, where Western allies will discuss their support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion. The Democrat hopes to take advantage of this to convince Turkey to accept Sweden’s candidacy for NATO. “I think they should be part of NATO,” he said in a Sunday morning interview on CNN in which he said he was “optimistic” about joining soon. of Stockholm.READ ALSONATO: cracks increasingly difficult to conceal
The risks of Ukraine’s membership
Regarding Ukraine, Joe Biden was inflexible. “I don’t think she is ready to be part of NATO,” he swept away. The membership process requires the unanimity of the members. “I don’t think we have unanimity in NATO to bring Ukraine in or not (…) in the middle of a war,” said the president. “We would be at war with Russia if that were the case,” he warned. READ ALSOEU enlargement: ten leaders take matters into their own hands
During his visit to Vilnius, Joe Biden will also deliver a foreign policy speech from a university in the city. His diplomatic tour comes shortly after the controversial US decision to supply Kiev with cluster munitions, banned by most NATO members but which the United States continues to use.
The American president will end his tour with a visit to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, which put an end to its historically neutral position then non-aligned to integrate NATO, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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