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President Biden is visiting three European countries next week

2023-07-03 17:52:07, Kosova & Bota CNA

The White House announced that next week President Joe Biden will start a 5-day trip to three European countries, while the main stop will be Vilnius, Lithuania, where he will participate in the NATO high-level meeting.

During the meeting, the leaders of the Western countries will discuss the next steps to continue supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia.

Mr. Biden's trip will start on July 9 and will end on the 13th. Initially, he will stay in London where he is expected to meet with King Charles and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The White House said that these meetings aim to "further strengthen the close relations between the two countries".

Afterwards, the president will head to Lithuania for a two-day high-level NATO meeting where the leaders of the 31 member countries of the Western military alliance will discuss Ukraine's counteroffensive to liberate territories in the southeastern part of the country, which Russia has controlled it since the first stages of the aggression about 16 months ago.

NATO countries, led by the United States, have sent billions of dollars in arms to Ukraine, but Russian airstrikes have continued to kill dozens of Ukrainian civilians even as Kiev's forces have shot down hundreds of Russian missiles.

After the NATO high-level meeting, President Biden goes to Helsinki, Finland, to mark its membership in the military alliance in April of this year and to hold meetings with the leaders of the Nordic countries.

President Biden did not attend the coronation of King Charles in London in May, but sent First Lady Jill Biden there to represent the United States. President Biden hosted British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House last month.

Also, last month, President Biden met at the White House with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, where both leaders committed to continue supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.

"NATO allies are more united than ever. We worked hard to get to this day. So far we are very good" , said President Biden next to Mr. Stoltenberg.

The president described the strengthening of the NATO alliance as an indicator of the decline of Moscow's influence.

Sweden has asked to join the NATO alliance, but so far two member countries, Turkey and Hungary, have not ratified its application.

President Biden is expected to meet on July 5, at the White House, with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, to show support for Sweden's bid to join NATO.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated that Sweden has shown itself to be very weak against terrorist groups and security threats, while Mr. Stoltenberg has stated that Sweden has fulfilled its obligations for NATO membership by strengthening anti-terrorism laws and implementing other measures. .

Hungary has been less clear in defining the reasons on which it opposes Sweden's membership, expressing reservations about Stockholm's criticism regarding the weakening of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary./ VOA