NATO: Moscow biggest threat to the alliance

MADRID — NATO declared Russia the “most significant and direct threat” to its members’ peace and security, as the military alliance met Wednesday to confront what the organization’s chief called the biggest security crisis since World War II.

It also promised to “step up political and practical support” to Ukraine as it fights off Russia’s invasion.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chided NATO for not embracing his embattled country more fully and asked for more weapons to defeat Moscow’s forces.

Russia’s invasion of its neighbor shattered Europe’s peace, drove NATO to pour troops and weapons into Eastern Europe on a scale not seen since the Cold War, and was set to give the defense organization two new members, Sweden and Finland.

“President [Vladimir] Putin’s war against Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and has created the greatest security crisis in Europe since the Second World War,” said Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as NATO members met in Madrid.

The alliance promised more support for Ukraine, which has already received billions in military and civilian aid from NATO countries.

Zelenskyy has acknowledged that NATO membership is a distant prospect. The alliance is trying to strike a delicate balance, letting its member nations arm Ukraine without sparking a direct confrontation between NATO and nuclear-armed Russia.

Under NATO treaties, an attack on any member would be considered an attack on all and trigger a military response by the entire alliance.

President Biden, whose country provides the bulk of NATO’s military power, vowed the Madrid summit would send “an unmistakable message ... that NATO is strong and united.”

“We’re stepping up. We’re proving that NATO is more needed now than it ever has been,” said Biden. He announced a hefty boost in America’s military presence in Europe, including a permanent U.S. base in Poland, two more Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain, and two more F-35 squadrons to the U.K.

Still, strains among NATO allies have also emerged as the cost of energy and other essential goods has skyrocketed, partly because of the war and tough Western sanctions on Russia. There also are tensions over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine should make to stop the fighting.

Money could also be a sensitive issue — just nine of NATO’s 30 members currently meet the organization’s target of spending 2% of Gross Domestic Product on defense.