(Dover) US President Joe Biden flew to the UK on Sunday, where he will meet Britain’s King Charles III, before heading to the NATO summit in Vilnius.
The Democratic leader, who took off aboard Air Force One from a military base in Delaware, will conclude his trip with a visit to the newest member of the Atlantic Alliance, Finland.
He will meet Charles III on Monday at Windsor Castle for the first time since his coronation, at which Joe Biden was represented by his wife Jill Biden.
The two heads of state should mainly address environmental issues, according to the White House. The American president is then to meet with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street.
But the heart of Joe Biden’s tour will be the NATO summit on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, where Western allies will discuss their support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
The Democrat hopes to take advantage of this to convince Turkey to accept Sweden’s candidacy for NATO.
“I think they should be part of NATO,” he said in a Sunday morning interview on CNN in which he said he was “optimistic” about joining soon. from Stockholm.
” Not done yet ”
To overcome the reluctance of Turkey, which criticizes Sweden for its alleged leniency towards Kurdish militants who have taken refuge in the Scandinavian country, the American president has mentioned a solution which could involve a modernization of the fleet of Turkish F-16s.
“I’m trying to bring together some sort of consensus where you strengthen NATO through the military capabilities of both Greece and Turkey, and allow Sweden in. But it’s not done yet,” he said.
As for Ukraine, Joe Biden has been inflexible. “I don’t think she’s ready to be part of NATO,” he swept away.
The membership process requires the unanimity of the members. “I don’t think we have unanimity in NATO to bring in – or not – Ukraine […] in the middle of a war,” said the president.
“We would be at war with Russia if that were the case,” he warned.
During his visit to Vilnius, Joe Biden will also deliver a foreign policy speech from a university in the city.
His diplomatic tour comes shortly after the controversial US decision to supply Kyiv with cluster munitions, banned by most NATO members but which the United States continues to use.
The American president will end his tour with a visit to Helsinki, the capital of Finland, which ended its historically neutral position then non-aligned to integrate NATO, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.