The 2023 NATO summit begins on July 12 in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. In its 74 year history, this military alliance has never had a summit close to their traditional adversary, Russia.
The Lithuanian capital is just 200 kilometres from the Russian border. Belarus, an ally of Russia, is just 30 kilometres from Vilnius, while Ukraine is 360 kilometres from the city.
In 2006, the NATO summit was held in Riga, capital of Latvia but back then, Moscow was more of a partner to this military alliance than its adversary.
Ukraine’s expectations
Ukraine expects something substantial from this summit, which is the accession of Kyiv to NATO. However, there are several barriers to Ukraine’s wish becoming a reality.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy has been travelling to several western capitals to drum up support for
Kyiv’s bid to join the military alliance
German newspaper, DW.com quotes Zelenskyy as saying “Ukraine is ready to be in NATO.” He also said, “We are waiting for NATO to be ready to have Ukraine.”
However, the Ukrainian president is aware that Kyiv can’t join NATO as long as the war is on. In that condition, Zelenskyy wants security guarantees from the NATO leader.
“I think security guarantees are not only important for Ukraine but also for our neighbours, for Moldova, because of Russia’s aggression [against] Ukraine and the potential aggression against other parts of Europe,” he was quoted by the German newspaper.
“Not now”
On the other hand, Germany says Ukraine can’t join the military alliance until there are no unresolved border conflicts.
German Chancellor said last week,”There can be no accession to our defence alliance at all during war. One of the preconditions for membership is having no unresolved border conflicts.”
There are other NATO countries who are hesitant about letting Ukraine in. DW.com says,”Hungary has not been very engaged in its support of Ukraine.”
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