How do their prospects look one day into this summit?īEARDSLEY: Well, let's listen to what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said today when he was repeatedly asked by reporters why Ukraine will not be invited to join this week. And that would be Ukraine, currently fending off Russia's invasion. KELLY: Eleanor, let me turn you to the country that is most eager to join the alliance. There's discussion that, eventually, the Baltic Sea will become a, quote, "NATO lake," meaning in a war-like situation, Russia will not have passage through it. KRISTINE BERZINA: This matters because the Swedish island Gotland is narrowly across the sea from Kaliningrad. Let's listen to what she says about Sweden joining NATO. She refers to the Russian exclave here of Kaliningrad, which was created after World War II and sits right next to Lithuania. Here is Kristine Berzina with the German Marshall Fund. And Sweden's membership is turning the Baltic Sea into what some are calling a NATO lake. With Finland joining a few months ago, Russia now has 800 miles of additional border with NATO countries. The result is this once again enlarges NATO, which is one of Russia's concerns that the alliance is edging up to its borders. And Sweden actually changed some of its laws and even amended its constitution to be able to address the issue. Stoltenberg said Sweden has done a lot to address Ankara's concerns over a Kurdish militant group that Turks consider to be a terrorist organization. And you could see he was clearly relieved because it removed what would have been a huge stumbling block to the summit. Last night, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced this. After opposing Sweden's membership bid for most of the year, Turkish President Erdogan did an about face and said he would allow Sweden's accession to NATO to be submitted to the Turkish parliament. Walk us through that.īEARDSLEY: Yeah, absolutely. 32, a country that's not currently a member of NATO but will be soon because a last-minute deal has cleared the way for Sweden to join the alliance. KELLY: So I mentioned 31 countries are gathered, but let's start with No. Hey there.ĮLEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley is in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. This NATO summit comes in the midst of a war underway in Ukraine and as NATO looks towards the Indo-Pacific to deal with the challenges posed by China's rise. First, though, to the Baltic country of Lithuania, where the heads of state of 31 countries are meeting.
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