Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is meeting with his fellow NATO leaders Thursday at a special summit aimed at finding a path to end the fighting in Ukraine.
Trudeau briefly spoke to the media before the start of the summit where he insisted that NATO was not just a geographical alliance, but a “group of countries who stand together because we believe in democracy, in the rule of law, in the defence of human rights and the values that underpin all of our societies.”
The PM added that the “illegal, brutal” invasion by Russia was unacceptable and NATO was “united” in their support for Ukraine and condemnation of the continued attacks on the eastern European country.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine one month ago has left Europe facing its biggest security threat since the Second World War, and, Trudeau argued yesterday, a larger threat to the globe.
NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg says the military alliance is set to green light sending more troops to the eastern part of Europe as part of talks to reset the alliance’s long-term deterrence and defence posture.
Ahead of the summit, Stoltenberg spoke to the media calling the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia the “most serious security crisis in a generation”. He added that this summit was a need for a “reset” in NATO’s operations.
“We need to do more and therefore we need to invest more and there is a new sense of urgency,” he said.
In talking about the goals for the summit, Stoltenberg added that NATO allies needed to show unity and “address this security crisis together. He anticipated that allies would make declarations of greater financial investment in defence spending.
NATO to increase troops in Eastern Europe with 4 new battlegroups, chief says
On Wednesday in a news conference in Brussels, Stoltenberg told reporters that he expects the allies to sign off on the deployment of four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
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“I expect leaders will agree to strengthen NATO’s posture in all domains, with major increases in the eastern part of the alliance on land, in the air and at sea,” he said.
“At these three summits we will see who is our friend, who is our partner and who sold us out and betrayed us,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address released early on Thursday.
He said he expected “serious steps” from Western allies, repeating calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine and complaining that the West had not provided Ukraine with planes, modern anti-missile systems, tanks or anti-ship weapons.
Zelenskyy is also scheduled to address NATO leaders after having spoken directly earlier this week with Trudeau.
The new multinational battlegroups come on top of four existing combat units with roughly 5,000 troops operating in three Baltic states and Poland. They were deployed after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Canada and its allies are expected to unveil later Thursday a new round of economic sanctions against the allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday accused Russia of crossing a red line into barbarism in its war with Ukraine and said the West needed to “tighten the vice” in sanctions to bring the conflict to an end.
“Vladimir Putin has already crossed the red line into barbarism,” Johnson told reporters on arrival in Brussels for an unprecedented one-day trio of NATO, G7 and EU summits.
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He said more sanctions needed to be imposed.
“It is very important we work together to get this thing done. The harder our sanctions … the more we can do to help Ukraine … the faster this thing can be over.”
Trudeau toured Europe two weeks ago, where he held meetings in London, Berlin, Warsaw and Poland, and visited Canadian troops leading a NATO multinational battlegroup in Latvia.
Trudeau will face pressure to boost Canada’s defence budget, which according to NATO estimates stands at 1.39 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2021.
— with files from the Canadian Press and Reuters
