Biden meets Finland, Sweden leaders, touts NATO support
President Joe Biden, standing alongside the prime minister of Sweden and president of Finland at the White House on Thursday, declared the two nations have the “full, total complete backing of the United States of America” in their push to join NATO.
Calling the two countries “close, highly capable partners,” Mr. Biden heralded the possible expansion of the trans-Atlantic alliance as an affirmation of shared democratic values and the continued strength of the security pact that under its charter considers any attack on a member nation as an attack on all.
“Sweden and Finland have strong democratic institutions, strong militaries and strong and transparent economies, and a strong moral sense of what is right,” Mr. Biden said. “They meet every NATO requirement and then some. And having new NATO members in the High North will enhance the security of our alliance, and deepen our security cooperation across the board.”
Mr. Biden said he was sending Congress reports on the potential changes to the treaty, which lawmakers must approve, urging them to move quickly.
“The bottom line is simple, quite straightforward: Finland and Sweden make NATO stronger,” Mr. Biden said. “And a strong united NATO is the foundation of America’s security.”
The meeting came just a day after the longtime neutral countries formally applied for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the defense pact founded after World War II, though one existing member is seeking to slow things down.
Turkey on Wednesday prevented NATO from initiating the organization’s review process to admit Finland and Sweden. Mr. Biden and his aides brushed off the move, expressing confidence that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objections can be resolved.
Turkish officials have criticized both Nordic countries for placing export bans on some military goods to Turkey and supporting “terrorist organizations,” including the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the PKK. Turkey has been battling the PKK, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group, since the 1980s.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, who spoke after Mr. Biden, addressed Turkey’s concerns and said that discussions with Ankara are ongoing.
“We will commit to Turkey‘s security, just as Turkey will commit to our security. We take terrorism seriously,” he said. “We are open to discussing all the concerns Turkey may have concerning our membership in an open and productive manner.”
Officials watch joint exercise in Poland
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, the country’s defense minister and the U.S. ambassador to Poland watched a joint military exercise dubbed Defender-Europe 22 by Polish, U.S., French and Swedish troops in northeastern Poland on Thursday.
The troops’ task was to cross the Narew River near the town of Nowogrod, in a region about two hours’ drive from the borders of Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad and of Russian ally Belarus.
Mr. Duda said that, as Ukraine is fighting Russia’s invasion, everyone is “aware of the potential threat” in the region.
Macron concerned about spread of conflict
French President Emmanuel Macron has reiterated concerns about the risk of the war in Ukraine spreading to surrounding countries, as he hosted the president of Moldova, Ukraine’s neighbor.
Mr. Macron said Thursday that “a spread of the conflict to neighboring countries cannot be excluded” pointing to “recent incidents” in the Transnistria region of Moldova, where Russian troops are already stationed and where there have been explosions.
“France remains particularly alert to the security situation in the region,” the French leader said.
He praised Moldova’s help for refugees from Ukraine. The small, Western-leaning former Soviet republic is coping with an influx of refugees. Mr. Macron appealed to European leaders to give a rapid initial response to Moldova’s application to join the European Union.
Worries increase about Mariupol soldiers
The fate of hundreds of Ukrainian fighters who surrendered after holding out against punishing attacks on Mariupol’s steel factory hung in the balance Thursday, amid international fears that the Russians may take reprisals against the prisoners.
The International Committee of the Red Cross gathered personal information from hundreds of the soldiers — name, date of birth, closest relative — and registered them as prisoners of war, as part of its role in ensuring the humane treatment of POWs under the Geneva Conventions.
Amnesty International said in a tweet that the Ukrainian soldiers are now prisoners of war and as such “must not be subjected to any form of torture or illtreatment.”
More than 1,700 defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol have surrendered since Monday, Russian authorities said, in what appeared to be the final stage in the nearly three-month siege of the now-pulverized port city.