The message of the US president to the leaders of the Alliance, G7 and EU. Zelensky: Give us 1 percent of your tanks. Drones, missiles and air defenses are on the way
FROM THE ENCOUNTER IN BRUSSELS. NeitherOn the day of the three consecutive summits in Brussels – NATO, G7, European Council – the allies reaffirm Western unity and a hard line against Putin on all fronts. From sanctions, to military support for Ukraine, to the redefinition of the strategic deterrence of the Atlantic Alliance, to the threat of countermeasures to be adopted if Russia uses chemical weapons and the theme of millions of Ukrainian refugees, the leaders seem, albeit with nuances lexicals and tones, playing the same score.
American President Joe Biden, who had a meeting with Prime Minister Mario Draghi on the sidelines of the summit, in his speech before the allies in fact highlighted that “we are facing a historic moment” in which NATO must defend the values on which was built. And to do this, it is necessary to protect what is now the border, that is Ukraine, and to support the rule of law, freedom of the media and activists for democracy, in non-EU countries close to Russia. For this latest initiative, Washington has allocated 300 million dollars.
At the NATO summit, Zelensky also spoke remotely giving “a passionate speech”, as defined by a source of the White House who stressed that the Ukrainian president has not asked for either his country to join the Alliance or no fly zones . While he never said it, Zelensky actually said: “You have at least 20,000 tanks. Ukraine has demanded one percent of all your tanks. You can give us 1% of your planes ». Then he re-launched the challenge to the allies: “NATO still has to show what it can do to save lives, to show that it is truly the most powerful defense association in the world.”
Stoltenberg replied: “NATO does what it can, but it is our responsibility to ensure that the conflict does not spread.” And this means for the allies not to send men to the ground and not to impose no-fly zones. And even on the response to a possible attack with chemical weapons, the Alliance moves with caution, so much so that Stoltenberg has limited himself to saying that he has no confirmation on the Russian use of phosphorus bombs denounced by Zelensky. So if Boris Johnson said if Putin uses them “it will be finished”, Biden, drawing a dividing line, said that “we will respond in reverse”.
The final communiqué of the NATO summit partially reflects the prudence of some countries in putting pen to paper a tougher stance. Norwegian Prime Minister Gahr Store told La Stampa that “he would have preferred that the statement had referred to constructive ambiguity” to send a more assertive message to Putin, but despite the issue being discussed behind closed doors, then a less uncompromising line. However, “constructive ambiguity is better than setting red lines,” Macron underlined at the end of the summit.
But Ukraine will be supported: drones, anti-tank missiles, missile defense, gasoline, ammunition are ready to be sent to the Ukrainian resistance. “As I speak, the weapons are going to Ukraine,” Biden said. There are also ongoing discussions on the dispatch of anti-naval batteries. We start with four new multinational battalions – which will be added to the 4 existing in the Baltics and in Poland – to strengthen the eastern front: they will be deployed in Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria. The French and Czechs will command the first two, Hungarians and Bulgarians, those spread over their territory. There will be, as Stoltenberg explained, a chain “from the Baltic to the Black Sea” to show Putin the strength and determination of the allies.
The big names spoke in unison on China, Biden said that “relations are at risk if Beijing helps Putin”; Macron stressed that he “wishes to hope that China will do nothing to fuel the conflict in Ukraine”.
NATO has postponed the redefinition of Europe’s strategic deterrence to the June summit in Madrid. Now individual countries will have to do their homework, study how to increase defense spending on which many have already committed and allocate more troops to the security of the eastern border. The new “posture” of the Alliance will take shape in Madrid in June. And again in the Spanish appointment, the extension of the mandate as NATO secretary general to Jens Stoltenberg will be ratified, it should have expired in October, and will remain for at least another year. It is complicated, as the White House had hinted at on Wednesday, to change the leader in such a delicate moment.
On the sanctions, on the other hand, the G7 said it was “ready to increase them” and the European Union discussed it with Biden last night. Washington and London have moved unilaterally. The United States has hit 300 deputies of the Duma, companies linked to the Russian war machine and intends to block the international transactions in gold of the Russian central bank. This is a path also evoked by the G7. Europe is ready to tighten sanctions, in the meantime, together with the US, they have established the creation of a task force to monitor the correct application of retaliation. Von der Leyen, who will have a meeting with Biden before his departure for Poland, has already made it known that the EU will replace the Russian liquefied gas with the American one.
And the G7 also highlighted the repercussions that the war in Ukraine is having on the food chain linked to wheat. Biden said the US and Canada will produce more and has launched an $ 11 billion five-year plan to support the fight against hunger.
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