The heads of state and governments of NATO member countries will gather on July 11-12 for a summit in Vilnius.
The main agenda of the day of the two -day meeting, which will be 300 km from the Russian border, will be the situation in Ukraine.
Along with Sweden, invited to the summit as a Candidate for membership in an alliance, leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand will take part in the event.
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky will also arrive in Vilnius.
Officials of Western countries do not hide that the holding of the annual NATO summit in the former Soviet Republic is a kind of message to Russia.
Lithuania – the first republic that left the Soviet Union in 1990 became a member of the North Atlantic Alliance in 2004.
NATO officials often repeat that Russia cannot prevent the advancement of Ukraine along the way to NATO, as it was with Lithuania. To date, with the entry of Finland, the number of participants in the block has increased to 31. The topics that will be discussed at the Summit in the Baltic Republic will mainly affect Ukraine and Russia.
In particular, three main questions in Ukraine will be issued on the summmer’s agenda. The first of them is an increase in military support to Ukraine, which is at war with Russia.
It is expected that NATO countries are consistent with a long -term long -term support program. One of the main goals of the program is to translate the military potential of Ukraine based on Soviet standards. The framework of these initiatives provides for the modernization of the Ukrainian army to NATO standards
The second question related to Ukraine is to bring political relations with this country to a new level. To this end, the Council of Ukraine-NATO will be formed, the first meeting of which will be held in Vilnius.
The third question that will be discussed is the membership of Ukraine in NATO. It is expected that at the Summit of NATO member countries will confirm the plans of Ukraine to accept Ukraine in the Alliance, as was announced 15 years ago in Bucharest. However, the deadlines and the process of Ukraine joining NATO are not yet discussed, since the conflict continues on its territory.
Earlier, representatives of the Alliance made clear statements that Kyiv would not be accepted in NATO while the war continues in Ukraine.