President Joe Biden arrived in Madrid on Tuesday for a NATO meeting where he will press for Finland and Sweden’s admission to the alliance, expand the number of destroyers stationed in Spain, and meet with Turkey.
Felipe VI of Spain welcomed Biden as he arrived. He had attended a G7 summit that had taken place in Germany.
Biden reached out multiple times to touch the monarch on the shoulder during their lengthy conversation.
Biden will make an announcement at the NATO summit on increasing the American military presence on the eastern flank, as he committed to do when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
The U.S. will send two more destroyers to Rota, Spain, on the Spanish coast.
‘We’ll be making specific announcements tomorrow on land, sea and air of additional force posture commitments over the long term, beyond the the duration of this crisis, however long it goes on,’ National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Air Force One on the flight to Madrid.
‘One of those announcements which the president will lay out today when he meets with the Spanish President, will be an increase in the number of destroyers based in Rota, Spain, from four to six destroyers.’
And Sullivan said there could be more to come.
‘We think by the end of the summit, what you will see is a more robust, more effective, more combat credible, more capable, and more determined force posture to take account of a more acute and aggravated Russian threat, not just because of what they’ve done in Ukraine, but also because of the way in which they have changed their posture,’ he said.
The three-day summit will focus heavily on Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, which officially begins on Tuesday night with a black-tie banquet.
On Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, will digitally address the NATO leaders. He also spoke to the G7 leaders earlier this week, asking for increased defense capabilities and expressing his desire for the conflict to be over by the end of the year.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated on Tuesday that the invasion has altered how the alliance’s member nations approach defense.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked a ‘fundamental shift’ in NATO’s approach to defense, and member states will have to boost their military spending in an increasingly unstable world, the leader of the alliance said Tuesday.
Stoltenberg said the meeeting would chart a blueprint for the alliance ‘in a more dangerous and unpredictable world.’
‘To be able to defend in a more dangerous world we have to invest more in our defense,’ Stoltenberg said. Just nine of NATO’s 30 members meet the organization’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense.
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine also promoted Sweden and Finland to apply to join.
But Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, is opposing their application to join because he wants them to alter their position on Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey views as terrorist organizations.
While they are both in Madrid on Wednesday, Biden will meet with Erdogan. They chatted on Monday night.
According to Sullivan, the United States thinks Finland and Sweden have made great progress in resolving Turkey’s concerns. Furthermore, we are convinced that Turkey’s reservations will be adequately resolved in a bilateral discussion and that they will eventually join the alliance.