“So far, NATO countries have delivered aid” to Ukraine “for 150 billion euros, including 65 billion in military aid”. This was underlined by NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, at a press conference in Brussels at the end of the first day of work at the Foreign Ministerial. “The Ukrainian people continue to defend their country with courage and valor. We will continue to support them for as long as necessary.”
PUTIN – “At times like these, friends and allies are more important than ever. And Finland now has the strongest friends and allies in the world. President Vladimir Putin wanted to close the door to NATO: today we show the world that he has failed, that aggression and intimidation don’t work” said Stoltenberg, in Brussels on the sidelines of the Foreign Ministerial, alongside Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. “Instead of reducing NATO, he achieved the opposite: more NATO. And our door remains firmly open.”
SWEDEN – Today is a “big day for Finland to join” NATO, but “we will make sure that Sweden also becomes a full NATO member”. What is missing, he recalls, is the “ratification” of membership by all the parliaments of the allied countries and I am confident” that the process will be completed. “I recently spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – he continues – and we agreed to restart the permanent mechanism of meetings” between Sweden and Turkey “to ensure that Stockholm’s accession to the Alliance is also ratified”, he concludes.
“We are in close contact with Ankara, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I went to Ankara a few weeks ago and that’s where we agreed the way forward, restarting the process in what we call the ‘permanent trilateral mechanism’ with Finland, Sweden and Turkey, to follow up on the trilateral memorandum of understanding signed in Madrid”. “Now it is important – he underlined – to finalize the accession process, not only for Finland, but also for Sweden. My message is and has been, also in my meetings in Ankara, that not only Finland, but also Sweden has fulfilled its commitments. Therefore nothing should stand in the way of the final ratification” of Sweden’s membership. “This is a top priority for the Alliance. It is important for me personally: all Allies agree that we should try to finalize Sweden’s membership as soon as possible. So we will continue to work on this and hopefully we can have soon Sweden” in NATO.
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