WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden leaves for Europe on Sundaywhere he will spend time in three nations considering the alliances that have been tested by The Russian invasion of Ukraine.
After arriving overnight in London, Biden will meet King Charles III the next day for the first time since then was crowned. Next is the centerpiece of the trip, the NATO summit in Vilnius Lithuania. Alliance leaders will discuss the war and review plans to deal with Russian aggression.
The final stop is in Helsinki, where Biden is expected to celebrate the expanding alliance on Thursday, with Finland as new member of NATO.
His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the trip would “showcase the president’s leadership on the world stage.”
A look at Biden’s agenda and the issues he will face: London
Biden arrives in London on Sunday night and is expected to have a full schedule of meetings on Monday.
“There’s always a lot to talk about with the UK,” said Max Bergmann, a former State Department official who directs the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Biden will hold talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing St. Sunak faces an election late next year. His Conservative Party is far behind the opposition in opinion polls.
Despite Sunak’s shaky political position, he has fostered close ties with Biden and it will be their sixth meeting since Sunak took over last October
Bergmann said Sunak’s tenure has been a nice change of pace after “there were some concerns about Boris Johnson,” one of Sunak’s predecessors, “being a loose cannon.”
Biden will visit the king at Windsor Castle, a royal residence outside London. Biden did not attend the coronation of Charles, first lady Jill Biden went to his place — So this will be their first meeting since then.
They are expected to talk about climate change, an issue that has been a focus for the two leaders, and how to fund initiatives to address the problem. Vilnius
Biden will spend two days in the Lithuanian capital, which hosts the annual NATO summit. He will participate in meetings with leaders and deliver a speech from Vilnius University.
The alliance has been reinvigorated by the war in Ukraine, and members have been pouring military hardware into the country to help repel Russia’s invasion.
Biden on Friday defended what he said was a “difficult decision” to donate cluster munitions in Ukraine, a move his administration said was key to the fight and bolstered by Ukraine’s pledge to use the controversial bombs carefully. Biden is likely to face questions from allies about why the US would send one weapon in Ukraine that more than two-thirds of NATO members have banned because it has done so a history for having caused many civilian casualties.
For Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the summit “will send a clear message: NATO is united and Russia’s aggression will not pay.”
But NATO has also struggled to bridge divisions on important issues. Finland was welcomed into the alliance this year, but Sweden’s membership has been supported by Turkey and Hungary.
There are also disagreements over how quickly an invitation to Ukraine to join NATO should be extended.
NATO’s eastern flank countries want to move quickly, seeing it as a way to deter Russian aggression. The US and others advocate a more cautious approach.
One issue is already resolved, at least for now. Stoltenberg’s term has been extended for one year because the members could not agree on a new leader.
Senator Thom Tillis, who will attend the summit, likened the alliance to a gathering of dozens of family members who bicker and clash but nevertheless stick together.
“At the end of the day, you know you’re family,” said Tillis, RN.C.
Tillis leads a bipartisan delegation along with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., who said NATO is more powerful than before.
“It’s the strongest military alliance in our history, and I think it’s only gotten stronger as a result of American leadership, as a result of Stoltenberg’s leadership, and as a result of Vladimir Putin’s threat to all NATO allies and other countries. in Europe and around the world and the international order,” he said. Helsinki
After two nights in Vilnius, Biden visits Helsinki. The stop is a bit of a victory lap, but it could also be a reminder of unfinished business.
The Nordic country in April became the 31st member of NATOending its history of non-alignment and showing how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has backfired in Europe.
Finland was to join alongside its neighbor Sweden, whose admission has been stalled by Turkey and Hungary. NATO requires the unanimous consent of all its members to expand.
The Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson visited the White House on Wednesday and met with Biden to keep up the pressure for membership. But there is little hope that the issue will be resolved in Vilnius.
The White House is billing Biden’s visit to Helsinki as a “Nordic US Leaders Summit.”
It’s a very different occasion from the last time a US president visited Helsinki five years ago.
During this trip, Donald Trump held a press conference with Putin and removed the worries about Russian meddling in Trump’s election victory.
Now Biden heads to the city to demonstrate how his administration has held the line against Moscow and expanded Western defenses.
___
Associated Press writer Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
