VILNIUS, LITHUANIA -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday but remained mum on the deal to advance Sweden's membership in NATO.
Although Biden made a reference to "the agreement you reached yesterday," Erdogan said nothing about it. Turkiye has been the primary obstacle to Sweden joining the alliance, but NATO announced on Monday night that Erdogan agreed to forward the issue to his country's parliament.
It was a conspicuous omission from Erdogan, who has not commented on the issue publicly during the summit.
However, Erdogan appeared eager to develop his relationship with Biden. He said previous meetings were "mere warm ups, but now we are initiating a new process."
Mentioning next year's presidential election, Erdogan told Biden that he wanted "to take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck."
Biden responded, "I look forward to meeting with you the next five years."
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The NATO chief says alliance leaders on Tuesday agreed to allow Ukraine to join "when allies agree and conditions are met" -- after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted the organization's failure to set a timetable for Ukrainian membership.
"We reaffirmed Ukraine will become a member of NATO and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at the alliance's summit in Lithuania, referring to a key step in joining NATO.
"This will change Ukraine's membership path from a two-step path to a one-step path," he said, adding that Ukraine would join "when allies agree and conditions are met."
With no consensus among the 31 allies to admit Ukraine into NATO's ranks, despite many members funnelling arms and ammunition to Zelenskyy's forces, the leaders decided to remove obstacles on Ukraine's membership path so that it can join more quickly once the war with Russia is over.
Asked about Zelenskyy's concerns, Stoltenberg said the most important thing now is to ensure that his country wins the war, because "unless Ukraine prevails there is no membership to be discussed at all."
Earlier Tuesday, the Ukrainian leader said it was "absurd" that no timetable has been laid out for his country to be invited to join NATO or become a member one day.
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The Kremlin's spokesman says Moscow is keeping close watch on decisions made at the NATO summit, and will analyze them to "take measures aimed at ensuring our security."
In a call with reporters on Tuesday, Dmitry Peskov acknowledged Turkiye's decision to move ahead with ratifying Sweden's membership in the Western military alliance would have implications for Russia. He said the Russian government would implement countermeasures but did not say what they were.
But Peskov said Moscow would continue to cooperate when it sees fit with Turkiye, which has cast itself as an intermediary between Russia and Ukraine. He says that while Russia and Turkiye have disagreements, they also share common interests.
The Kremlin spokesman also repeated Moscow's claim that NATO's relentless eastward expansion after the end of the Cold War was "one of the reasons that led to the current situation" -- a reference to Russia's military action in Ukraine.
Many alliance members have countered that they were forced to bulk up their defences in the wake of Russian incursions in places like Georgia and Ukraine.
Peskov reiterated a warning against NATO putting Ukraine on a fast-track to membership. The Kremlin has argued that Ukraine joining NATO would lead to a direct confrontation between the alliance and Russia.
"Potentially, it's very dangerous for European security. It carries very big risks," Peskov said.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says it's "absurd" that no timetable has been laid out for his country to be invited to join NATO or become a member one day.
Zelenskyy said on Twitter that he plans to discuss NATO's "uncertainty" over Ukraine's possible membership during the alliance's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital.
He says the Ukrainian delegation to the summit starting Tuesday had "received signals that certain wording" under discussion deals with the prospect of NATO inviting Ukraine to become a member, "not about Ukraine's membership."
Zelenskyy called it "unprecedented and absurd" that a time frame hasn't been set, either for an invitation or Ukrainian membership.
"It seems there is no readiness either to invite Ukraine to NATO or to make it a member of the alliance," the president said.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he wants NATO to show "demonstrable progress" at the summit on Ukraine's membership.
"I've always said that Ukraine's rightful place is in NATO," Sunak told reporters during his flight to Vilnius.
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France will deliver deep-strike missiles as part of increased efforts to help Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces, French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday.
France has been weighing whether to send Scalp missiles to Ukraine. They are the French counterpart of Britain's Storm Shadow missiles, which the U.K. already sent to Ukraine.
Macron said upon arriving at the NATO summit in Vilnius, "We have decided to deliver new deep-strike missiles to Ukraine" as part of beefed-up military support. The French leader did not specify which missiles, or say when or how many would be supplied.
Macron said the decision was made "in view of the situation and the counteroffensive being led by Ukraine" against Russian forces. He said in May that the longer-range Scalp missiles could help the counteroffensive, which is in its early stages.
A French government official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed that Macron was referring to Scalp missiles.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the French move "an erroneous decision fraught with consequences for the Ukrainian side, as naturally, this will force us to take countermeasures."
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says the European Union's future relations with Turkiye will reflect its status as an "important partner," but he isn't elaborating on what that would entail.
NATO officials said Monday that Turkiye agreed to ratify Sweden's membership in the Western military alliance, removing one of the last major roadblocks to the Nordic country joining NATO.
However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan linked his country's support to Turkiye's long-stalled bid to join the European Union. Scholz and others have rejected a connection.
Speaking as he arrived Tuesday at the two-day NATO summit in Vilnius, Scholz called Turkiye "an important partner for us" and said he would speak with Erdogan during the event.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said it's important to keep seeking cooperation with Ankara. He said Erdogan's decision on Sweden "shows that if one talks to Turkiye, one finds solutions."
"We haven't already always had the easiest relations with Turkiye, but we shouldn't turn our backs on Turkiye, otherwise it will find other partners," Bettel said.
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Germany has announced a package of further military aid for Ukraine that includes 40 extra Marder armoured personnel carriers, another 25 old Leopard 1 tanks and two Patriot defence missile launching devices.
The German Defense Ministry said Tuesday that Germany also would give Ukraine another 20,000 rounds of artillery ammunition, 5,000 rounds of smoke ammunition, a reconnaissance and drone-defence package and a Luna drone system. There will also be five armoured recovery vehicles.
Germany, already one of the biggest providers of military aid to Ukraine, put the value of the latest package at nearly 700 million euros ($768 million).
German officials had promised a substantial new military aid pledge at the NATO summit in Vilnius but made clear their continued reluctance to agree to Ukraine's request for Taurus long-range cruise missiles.
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Lithuania and several of its allies have beefed up security for the NATO summit, with as many as 12,000 troops backed by warships, air defence systems and artillery deployed for the two-day meeting.
Lithuanian authorities say almost 50 foreign delegations with 2,400 representatives are gathering in Vilnius, including 40 presidents or prime ministers and up to 150 other high-ranking politicians.
Germany supplied Patriot missile defence for the summit that starts Tuesday, while Spain provided short- to medium-range NASAM ground systems.
The summit in Lithuania's capital is being held about 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the border with Russian ally Belarus, where the leader of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was granted refuge following a short-lived revolt against the Russian authorities last month.
Border control measures were introduced last week at major airports, sea ports and on land borders with Lithuania's fellow European Union members Poland and Latvia.
Meanwhile, NATO warships are patrolling off the coast of Lithuania, including vessels from Germany, the United States, Italy and Poland, according to the commander of Lithuania's navy, Giedrius Premeneckas.
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has urged all NATO members to meet the alliance's target of spending the equivalent of 2% of national economic output on defence.
According to new NATO estimates released last week, 11 of the 31 member countries will reach that target this year.
As the Western alliance's annual summit opened in Lithuania's capital on Tuesday, Sunak said Britain was devoting "record amounts" to defence, in part to make its industry "ready for the challenges ahead."
"And that's something we need to see across NATO, starting with meeting the 2% commitment," he said.
After Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, NATO members committed to move toward spending 2% of gross domestic product on national military budgets within a decade. They are expected during this week's summit to set that level as a minimum target -- a floor rather than a ceiling.
Sunak said NATO members "have witnessed the most terrible crimes and human tragedies in Ukraine" since Russia invaded its neighbour 16 1/2 months ago. He says the alliance has "come together like never before in support of Ukraine and with firm determination that Russia cannot succeed."
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Hungary's foreign minister says his country's ratification of Sweden's bid to join NATO is just a "technical matter" after Turkiye's president indicated he would his country's opposition to the Scandinavian country joining the alliance.
In a Facebook post Tuesday, Peter Szijjarto wrote that the Hungarian government's position on Sweden "is clear: the government supports NATO membership, which is why we tabled a proposal to this effect in Parliament many months ago. It is now only a technical matter to complete the ratification process."
Turkiye and Hungary are the only NATO members that haven't yet ratified Sweden's accession documents.
Hungarian President Katalin Novak tweeted that she has asked Prime Minister Viktor Orban "to do everything possible to ensure that the .Hungarian Parliament also contributes to the enlargement of the defense .Alliance as soon as possible."
