The death of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny colored the beginning of the high-level security conference that started in Munich.
Munich
“Like this in troubling times, it is clear that the United States cannot withdraw.”
Vice President of the United States for this post Terrible Harris conveyed on Friday while speaking at the annual security conference that started in Munich.
of the United States the current administration is working hard to get the continuation of Ukraine's military support approved by the country's congress. And the current administration's commitment to NATO is set in stone, he assured a large group of high-level influencers of foreign and security policy at the Bayerischer Hof luxury hotel.
Harris's a lot of attention was paid to the speech, because there is more and more uncertainty about the future direction of the United States, both in terms of supporting Ukraine and NATO.
In Europe, they are stirring up another candidate for the presidency Donald Trump's statements about NATO and that the United States would not necessarily support those allies in the future who do not meet NATO's defense spending target.
The figures of the Kiel Institute published at the beginning of the conference on Friday showed, as expected, that new US aid to Ukraine has stopped.
Unless there is new support from the United States, Europe must at least double its current military support measures, the institute estimates.
“It's a challenge, but in the end it's about political will. The EU countries are among the richest in the world and so far they have not spent even a percent of their 2021 GDP to support Ukraine,” said the director responsible for the following indicator of support for Ukraine Christoph Trebesch in the bulletin.
Harris stated that failure to support Ukraine would be a gift to Putin.
I practiced the message was tailored not only for Europeans, but also for the home audience, which is strongly preparing for the elections: Americans also need to think about what kind of role they want for the United States, he implied.
The picture painted in the speech was not pretty.
“Imagine if the United States turned its back on Ukraine and abandoned our NATO allies and treaty obligations. Imagine if we let Putin off the hook, let alone encouraged him,” Harris said veiledly, referring to Trump.
“History offers a clue. If we stand by while an attacker impudently invades his neighbor, they will continue. And in Putin's case, it means that all of Europe would be threatened.”
To NATO In connection with this, Harris reminded, among other things, that the NATO allies stood in support of the United States after the terrorist acts of the eleventh of September.
NATO's Fifth Article was then activated for the only time so far.
He also tried to highlight how NATO has been strengthened in many ways on its eastern border during the Biden administration.
In Europe, on the other hand, more and more countries are reaching NATO's defense allocation target, i.e. two percent in relation to gross domestic product.
The United States must defend democracy, international rules and norms, and stand with its allies, Harris said.
“And make no mistake, the American people are facing this moment. And the United States will continue to lead”, he wanted to assure at the end of his speech.
Annual the high-level meeting on foreign and security policy is now being organized for the 60th time. The themes are quite dark this year: the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are strong on the agenda.
On Friday, just around the time the meeting was about to start, the Russian authorities put the opposition leader on the news To Alexei Navalny of death. The related party has not confirmed the information. Navalny's spouse Yuliya Navalnaya was in Munich at the same time. He said in his live broadcast, according to Reuters, that he does not know whether to believe the news.
Many leaders who participated in the conference commented on what happened in strict terms.
Harris stated that if the information is confirmed, it would be another sign that the president is the president of Russia Vladimir Putin of brutality.
“Whatever story they tell, let's be clear: Russia is responsible.”
Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenbergwho is also participating in the meeting, said that Russia has serious questions to answer.
Harris's in addition, the US Secretary of State will participate in the meeting, among others Antony BlinkenPresident of Ukraine Volodymyr ZelenskyiChancellor of Germany Olaf ScholzPresident of the EU Commission Ursula Von der Leyenthe current British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and the prime minister of the Netherlands, who is expected to be the future secretary general of NATO Mark Rutte.
Russian speakers are not included.
The future president from Finland will participate in the conference Alexander Stubb, who will participate in the conference's final main stage discussion on Sunday. The panel examines the challenges of geopolitics, according to the title, over a period of 60 years.
Also the foreign minister Elina Valtonen (coc.) was supposed to participate, but he missed out due to illness. Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen (kok) and chairman of the parliamentary group of the Social Democrats Titti Tuppurainen are there.
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