The war in Ukraine has made the NATO summit that starts today in Madrid one of the most decisive in recent years. Regarding the appointment, the second in the Spanish capital and which coincides with the 40th anniversary of Spain's entry into the Atlantic Alliance, he plans the strategy to follow after the Russian invasion. The increase in military support for Kiyv, the potential entry of Sweden and Finland (with Turkey's permission) or the reinforcement of the organization's defenses on the eastern flank will be the crucial points to be discussed. In addition, the attendees will approve a new "Strategic Concept", the document that will direct the strategy for the coming years.
As the months go by, the division between the allies who are committed to redoubling efforts to support Ukraine militarily and those who, fearful of the economic consequences of the conflict, are committed to a negotiation with concessions by both parties is becoming clearer. The United States and the United Kingdom defend the shipment of more weapons, as demanded by the Ukrainian president Volodímir Zelenski, but France and Germany welcome a pact with Moscow. It remains to be seen how the Ukrainian leader will participate in the summit, to which he was invited by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week in Kyiv. It is not ruled out that he leaves the country for the first time to attend the appointment.
The Russian invasion has led the allies to rethink strategies and agree that NATO forces should be present in larger numbers on that eastern flank. A reinforcement that had already been launched after the invasion of Crimea in 2014, but that the war in Ukraine has accelerated. Germany has already announced its plans to strengthen its commitment in Lithuania, while France wants to increase its presence in Romania, where it plans to deploy 1,000 soldiers with Leclerc tanks by the end of the year. For his part, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declined to detail any changes in the positioning of US forces in Europe, but said Washington and its allies will take steps to deploy troops quickly. if required. That includes placing more teams in the region and putting troops on higher levels of alert. For their part, the Baltic countries and Poland call for an increase in NATO's presence in their territory, fearful of Russian voracity.
In a historic and unthinkable move before February 14, Helsinki and Stockholm have applied to join the Atlantic Alliance. They will attend the meeting in Madrid with the intention that the allies support their accession -they need a unanimous vote-, but so far Turkey is opposed and has assured that it does not consider the summit to be the deadline to conclude the negotiations. "We are prepared for this to take time," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said last week. "Given the historical dimension" of the Swedish and Finnish bids, "it would not be a disaster if we needed a few more weeks" to reach a compromise, a German government source said. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is demanding a written commitment from both countries, which he accuses of backing Kurdish groups such as the PKK and YPG, whom he considers "terrorists." He also demands the lifting of arms export bans approved after the Turkish military intervention in northern Syria in 2019, the tightening of Swedish anti-terror legislation and the extradition of several people he describes as "terrorists".
