NATO Madrid Summit in June to assess future NATO-Russia ties: Blinken
May 15, 2022
Berlin [Germany], May 15 : US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday the summit between NATO leaders in June will assess the military alliance's future relationship with Russia, which has soured since the start of "military operation" in Ukraine.
He made these remarks after an informal meeting with NATO allies in Berlin.
Blinken is on a visit to Germany and France from May 14-16 to attend the informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers in Berlin, Germany, and join the US-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting in Paris-Saclay, France.
"A lot of these issues will be fully discussed and fully elaborated at the NATO summit in Madrid in June and much of the work that we were doing today was in furtherance of that summit and the work the leaders will bring to conclusion including the strategic concept," Blinken said in response to a question as quoted by Sputnik.
Blinken also informed that the US has redirected significant supply of liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe and will continue to do so through the rest of the year.
"We very much support the European Union's efforts to put in place an embargo on the importation of Russian oil... The US has taken a number of steps to help and so for example, to the extent that there are any gaps that result in the energy that the Europe is getting, we have already redirected significant supplies of liquefied natural gas to Europe," he said.
"The president's committed to continuing to do that throughout the rest of the year."
NATO Foreign Ministers met in Berlin on Sunday to discuss the possible membership application of Finland and Sweden as well as to reaffirm NATO's support for Ukraine in the wake of Russia's invasion.
Addressing the media via video link alongside German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Stoltenberg said that Sweden and Finland are NATO's closest partners and if they decide to apply for membership, it would be "historic".
"Their membership in NATO would increase our shared security, demonstrate that NATO's door is open and that aggression does not pay," Stoltenberg said, reiterating that all sovereign nations have the right to choose their own path.
