Brussels | A summit of leaders of NATO countries will take place on June 14 at the organization’s headquarters in Brussels, at a time of strong tensions between Westerners and Russia, the alliance announced in a statement.
“It will be a unique opportunity to strengthen NATO”, an organization which “embodies the lasting link between Europe and North America”, underlined its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
This will be the first summit in which US President Joe Biden will participate, after the presidency of Donald Trump, who is very critical of this organization and the spending considered too low by its member countries in terms of defense, in particular the Germany.
“The aggressive actions of Russia, the terrorist threat, cyber attacks, the impact of climate change on security and the rise of China,” will be on the menu of this meeting, according to the statement.
This summit will take place while disputes have continued to multiply with President Vladimir Putin, in particular over Ukraine with the massive deployment of Russian soldiers near the border of this country.
The summit will be held shortly after the Allies’ decision to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan on May 1 with the goal of a full withdrawal by September 11. The countries most engaged in Afghanistan are the United States, Germany, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Italy. Germany plans to complete its withdrawal in July.