From the red carpet in Vilnius, Stoltenberg met the press, where he talked, among other things, about Sweden’s membership in NATO and the way forward for Ukraine. There has long been great excitement about whether Sweden could get its long-awaited Nato yes during the summit in Lithuania’s capital. – The agreement that Sweden will now become a full member of the alliance makes this summit historic, said Stoltenberg. Hungary says it will also approve the Swedish NATO application, reports AFP. According to the news agency, this is now only a technical question. – This is good news for both Sweden, Turkey and the entire alliance, as well as the countries in the Baltics and Lithuania, Stoltenberg added. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Jens Stoltenberg and Ulf Kristersson after Turkey gave a long-awaited “yes” to Sweden. Photo: Nato Opens for Ukrainian “fast track” The time has come to move away from the so-called MAP process for Ukraine, according to Stoltenberg. This allows for faster processing of the country’s application. – Ukraine is much closer to NATO, so I believe that the time has come for that to be reflected in NATO’s decisions, Stoltenberg said. With this, Stoltenberg wants to open a Ukrainian “fast track” into NATO. In 2008, the members of the defense alliance agreed that both Ukraine and Georgia “will become members” at some point, without making concrete promises. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the NATO summit. According to Stoltenberg, he will arrive in the Lithuanian capital on Tuesday evening, and attend NATO’s Ukraine Council on Wednesday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet NATO countries in Vilnius tomorrow. Photo: Gunnar Bratthammer / news – No change in Russian nuclear weapon positions When asked whether NATO has seen changes in the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons recently, Stoltenberg replied no. This despite the fact that Russia says it will place nuclear weapons along the Ukrainian border in Belarus. Stoltenberg calls Russia’s nuclear rhetoric irresponsible and dangerous. – NATO allies are watching closely what Russia is doing. We are on guard, said Stoltenberg. Further arms support to Ukraine Stoltenberg also made it clear that NATO will come up with a plan for further arms support to Ukraine. He calls it the meeting’s “most important task”. – I will not comment on the specific wording now, but rest assured that the message will be positive, strong and united from the NATO allies. A load of 155mm long-range artillery shells from Norway to Ukraine is being loaded aboard a C-17 transport aircraft. Photo: Snorre Tønset At the same time, it became known today that Norway is increasing its military support to Ukraine by NOK 2.5 billion to NOK 10 billion in 2023. The money is given as part of the Nansen programme, the government states in a press release. Germany will give 700 million euros to Ukraine, according to AFP. The German government has not yet confirmed the news. AFP also reports that France and Emmanuel Macron will donate several long-range missiles to Ukraine. F-16 aircraft not part of the agreement Turkey has wanted to buy F-16 aircraft from the US to modernize its fighter fleet, but has met opposition in Congress in the US. US President Joe Biden, on the other hand, wants, in consultation with Congress, to transfer F-16 aircraft to Turkey, says security adviser Jake Sullivan, according to Reuters. President Joe Biden wants to sell F-16 aircraft to Ukraine. According to Stoltenberg, this was not part of the agreement with Erdogan to give the green light to Sweden’s NATO application. – I welcome all dialogue between Turkey and the US about the F-16, but it is not part of the agreement we entered into yesterday, says Stoltenberg.
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