Biden announced that Ukraine is not ready for NATO
Erdogan let Sweden into NATO
Vladimir Putin met with Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in the Kremlin after the paramilitary group’s rebellion was put down last month, Western media reported. The information was confirmed on Monday by the Russian authorities.
“This meeting took place in the Kremlin on June 29. It lasted almost 3 hours”, explained the spokesman of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov. In addition to Prigozhin, 35 commanders of “Wagner” were present at it.
“The president gave an assessment of the company’s actions at the front and an assessment of the events of June 24. “Putin listened to the commanders’ explanations and proposed options for their future work and their future use in combat,” Peskov said. According to the Kremlin spokesman, Prigozhin said that
“Wagner” unconditionally supports Putin
Under the agreement to end the rebellion, in which Wagner’s troops captured the city of Rostov and marched on Moscow, the charges against Prigozhin were dropped and he was offered to move to Belarus and his soldiers to join the regular Russian army.
After the meeting, however, Prigozhin appears to have remained in Russia rather than being forced into exile in neighboring Belarus, analysts said.
The information about the meeting between the Wagner leader and Putin comes amid speculation that Prigogine may be tasked with using his mercenaries,
to kill Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky
“Prigozhin may try to commit some major atrocity on behalf of Russia to claw his way back to Putin after the rebellion. He may try to organize an assassination attempt on Zelensky and take the head of the President of Ukraine to the Kremlin. Prigozhin needs to do something to remove the feeling of what Putin called “a knife in Russia’s back”, says journalist Dmitry Muratov of Novaya Gazeta.
At the same time, on July 11 and 12, the leaders of the NATO countries will meet in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and the most discussed topic will be Ukraine’s quest for membership in the alliance. However, Kiev’s hopes of immediate entry into the military bloc were dashed by the US president. According to Joe Biden, the country is not yet ready to be part of NATO, and this can happen only after the end of the war with Russia.
“I don’t think that as the war continues, there is unanimity in NATO on whether or not to accept Ukraine into NATO,” Biden said. Kiev had more work to do to meet all membership requirements, warning that the process “will take some time”.
However, on Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that the alliance had decided to drop the requirement that Ukraine follow the Membership Action Plan (MAP), setting out the goals that must be met to join the pact.
Ukraine’s membership in NATO will have very negative consequences for the security of Europe. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned about this. He stressed that Moscow will respond firmly to any such step.
“At the summit, we will agree on plans to help modernize Ukraine’s defenses,” alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said earlier.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced earlier in the day that Ankara could approve Sweden’s membership in NATO if European nations cleared the way for his country’s bid to join the EU. He emphasized that his country has been waiting at the door of the union for more than 50 years, while almost all NATO members are already in the EU.
In turn, Brussels rejected Erdogan’s proposal to link Sweden’s NATO accession to Turkey’s EU bid, insisting that the two processes are separate and happening in parallel.
“The European Union has a very structured enlargement process with a very, very clear set of steps to be taken by all candidate countries and even those who want to become candidate countries. You cannot link the two processes,” said Dana Spinant, spokesperson for the European Commission.
However, late on Monday it became clear that the Turkish president had given Sweden the green light for NATO after all.
Jens Stoltenberg hosted the talks between Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Christerson in Vilnius. After the meeting he commented:
“President Erdogan has agreed to send Sweden’s accession protocol to the Turkish parliament as soon as possible and to work closely with the assembly to secure ratification.”
Stoltenberg described this as a “historic step” but stressed that no “clear date” could be given as to when Sweden would be able to join the military alliance.
2023-07-10 20:30:00
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