2023 Vilnius Summit

The 2023 Vilnius summit was a NATO summit which took place from 11–12 July 2023, in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. The summit was officially proposed during the 2022 Madrid summit and its dates were fixed on 9 November 2022. In the summit, world leaders discussed the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine as well as Ukraine and Sweden's prospective memberships into NATO.

Background

The summit was held in the context of an ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. In his January 2023 address to the Lithuanian Parliament, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the summit as fateful. Ukraine expressed the desire to be formally invited to NATO at the Vilnius summit. On 8 July 2023, US President Joe Biden said that Ukraine is not ready to join NATO at that time. By the time of the summit there were 24 member states that had formally declared their support for Ukraine's NATO membership. Before the summit, on 4 July 2023, the former President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė criticized the Western leaders who failed to prevent the Russian aggression and said that the refusal to invite Ukraine to NATO would be a mistake.

Following the accession of Finland to NATO earlier in 2023, there had been an expectation among many NATO member states that Turkey and Hungary will complete the ratification process and allow the accession of Sweden before the summit. However, due to Turkish objections, it was unclear if Turkey would support Sweden's application by the time of the summit.

Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea attended the summit to strengthen their ties with NATO due to increasing tensions with China and Russia.

Preparations

Security

According to a representative of the Dignitary Protection Service of Lithuania, 40 heads of state and up to 150 other high-ranking officials will attend the summit and will require personal protection. To ensure the safety and security, Lithuania committed around 1,500 police officers, including the anti-terrorist unit ARAS and the Criminal Police Bureau, as well as over 3,000 troops of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Additionally, police officers from Latvia and Poland aided in security and around 1,000 troops from NATO states additionally joined as well, including the Polish Special Forces to aid the Lithuanian Special Operations Force. Overall, up to 12,000 officers and soldiers were. In addition to security personnel, Spain is reported to have temporarily moved its NASAMS air defense system from its long-term position in Latvia to Vilnius, in addition to Lithuania's own NASAMS systems. Similarly, German Armed Forces have deployed their MIM-104 Patriot long-range air defense system, placing it in Vilnius International Airport. NATO sent additional warships to the Baltic Sea. CBRN task force was also deployed.

The Lithuanian State Border Guard Service announced that, from 7th July to 13th July, internal Schengen Area border control would be reinstated at Lithuania's border checkpoints with member nations Latvia and Poland, as well as its airports and seaports. For the duration of the event, as well as the days leading up to and after the event, many traffic restrictions were announced by the Vilnius City Municipality, including the closure of the entirety of the Vilnius Old Town and many parts of the city center for vehicles. Additionally, from July 11 to 12, all flights over Vilnius and the surrounding airspace were be prohibited and scheduled flights from Vilnius Airport will be suspended. According to a representative of Lithuanian Airports, the other two civilian airports in Lithuania — Kaunas Airport and Palanga Airport — will continue to work but could experience delays.

Summit

US President Joe Biden and a number of other leaders began arriving in Vilnius on Monday, the eve of the summit. In the evening, the Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg hosted a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Following multiple hours of negotiations, Stoltenberg announced that Erdoğan agreed to unblock Swedish accession to NATO and ensure the ratification as soon as possible. Soon after the announcement, Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, stated that Hungary would no longer block entry to Sweden and would also support their membership into the defence bloc.

Stoltenberg stated that Ukraine will not become a NATO member while the Russo-Ukrainian War remains ongoing and that the summit was not meant to be a formal invitation for it to join NATO, although countries remain divided on whether Ukraine should be able to join after the war ends. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he wanted NATO to allow Ukraine to join as soon as possible after the war ends. However, other nations feared that such quick admittance of Ukraine to NATO could potentially increase Russian aggression and drag out the war even farther. Stoltenberg has also stated that he expects the summit to create a program of long-term aid over several years for Ukraine: "We have already pledged 500 million euros S$548mfor critical needs, including fuel, medical supplies, de-mining equipment and pontoon bridges. We will also help build Ukraine's security and defence sector, including with military hospitals. And we will help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era to NATO equipment and standards."

Participants

See also

* 49th G7 summit
* Government and intergovernmental reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Second Cold War

References

External links

Overview - 2023 NATO Summit Vilnius

{{NATO summits

2023 conferences
2023 in international relations
21st-century diplomatic conferences (NATO)
Lithuania and NATO
Diplomatic conferences in Lithuania
July 2023 events in Europe
NATO summits
July 2023 events in Lithuania
Events in Vilnius