A two-day meeting in Brussels of defense ministers from the 30 NATO members, and guest countries, took place June 15-16, to preview the June 29-30 NATO Summit in Madrid, whose proceedings will also include many guest nations. Ministry and media report that the focus was on “Russian aggression,” but also NATO activities in the Indo-Pacific.
The U.S. Department of Defense quoted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, “We will also decide on a new NATO strategic concept, setting out our position on Russia, on emerging challenges, and—for the first time—on China. And in this context, I welcome that the leaders of our Asia-Pacific partners will take part in our summit for the first time.” The Indo-Pacific nations that will attend the summit are Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, stated the Pentagon.
The Defense Department reported that the defense ministers “addressed the scale and design of our future posture—the so-called footprint of NATO forces in Europe.” The idea is “more NATO forward-deployed combat formations to strengthen our battlegroups in the eastern part of our alliance.” Stoltenberg said, “We are putting together a NATO comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine, helping Ukraine improve interoperability with NATO, transitioning from Soviet-era to modern NATO equipment.…”
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov participated in the June 15-16 Brussels meeting.
The Defense Department reported that the Summit leaders, “will discuss the historic applications of NATO membership by Finland and Sweden.”
