The NATO summit, which will be held in The Hague in June, will take place under a shortened program - two days instead of three. This year's text of the final declaration may not contain any direct mention of russia and possibly even Ukraine, which makes the Hague meeting very different from recent summits, and it is still unknown whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be invited. This is reported by Radio Liberty, reports UNN.
In order not to create too many reasons for quarrels between members of the alliance, the summit has already been shortened from three days to two. The summit program has not yet been approved, but it is possible that the first day will feature an official dinner, and the second day will feature two working sessions: one will be devoted to defense spending and the other to the development of the defense industry
According to the publication, some European members of the Alliance are interested in increasing purchases of Japanese and South Korean defense products, so it is likely that the four "Indo-Pacific partners" of NATO - Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea - will be present at the last meeting of the summit.
The summit's final communiqué is also being significantly shortened. NATO officials say the goal is for the final communiqué to consist of just three or four paragraphs. For example, the 2024 Washington Declaration consisted of 40 points, while the communiqué of the Vilnius Summit a year earlier stretched to 90 points, covering a wide range of issues.
The publication also notes that this year's text may not contain any direct mention of russia and possibly even Ukraine, which makes the Hague meeting very different from recent summits.
In both Washington and Vilnius, Ukraine dominated the agenda, where heated debates took place on whether to offer the country an invitation to membership and how to define its future path to joining the Alliance. Since Trump appears to be ruling out Ukraine's membership in NATO in the near future, one European official said it might be better not to mention Ukraine in the declaration at all - for now
In addition, the publication emphasizes that any attempt to agree on wording could lead to a weaker statement than the one agreed in Washington in 2024, where NATO at least promised to continue to support Kyiv "on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership."
In this regard, the question arises as to whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was a star guest at previous meetings, will be invited to the Netherlands. There is no confirmation of his invitation yet, but most NATO officials believe that he will come eventually
It is emphasized that Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna recently noted that it would be a "major strategic mistake" if Zelensky did not come, as that would be all that the media would write about from the meeting.
Although the arrival of the Ukrainian leader is still expected, he is unlikely to receive a special meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council, as was the case during the last two summits. For now, it seems that the alliance is again focusing its attention on internal issues
Let us remind
President of the United States of America (USA) Donald Trump confirmed that he plans to participate in the June NATO summit in The Hague.
The decision on inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the NATO summit, which will be held in The Hague in June, will be made by Alliance Secretary General Mark Rutte.