Before an hour
Zelenskyy is warmly welcomed into NATO, but remains frustrated
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, arrives with his wife Olena Zelenska for a public address in the Lithuanian capital on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
Kay Nietfeld | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska arrived in the Lithuanian capital Tuesday as the NATO summit and leaders discussed continued support for Kiev amid the ongoing war with Russia.
The group’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, emphasized that Ukraine would receive a “strong, positive signal for the way forward” regarding its membership.
But Zelenskyy remains frustrated that NATO has failed to set a timetable or provide concrete details for his country’s future NATO membership, calling it “unprecedented and absurd” on Telegram.
Kiev has been pushing for NATO membership following Russia’s full-scale invasion, but security alliance officials have previously said membership is unlikely to continue while war is raging on Ukrainian territories.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (centre) addresses the crowd during a NATO summit next to his wife Olena Zelenska (left) and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda at Lukiskiu Square in Vilnius July 11, 2023. (Photo by Odd ANDERSEN/AFP) (Photo by ODD ANDERSEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Stranger Andersen | Afp | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addresses a crowd at Lukiskiu Square in Vilnius July 11, 2023 during a NATO summit.
Stranger Andersen | AFP | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (centre) is hugged by Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda after addressing the crowd during a NATO summit at Lukiskiu Square in Vilnius July 11, 2023.
Petras Malukas | AFP | Getty Images
— Michele Luhn and Amanda Macias
2 hours ago
The Kremlin was “overwhelmed” by the speed of Finland and Sweden’s NATO accession.
The latest comments from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov come as he travels through Latin American countries this week, a trip Russia sees as an opportunity to cement its alliances with countries in the region.
Agency Anadolu | Agency Anadolu | Getty Images
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin was “staggered” by the speed with which “neutral” countries such as Finland and Sweden had decided to join the NATO military alliance.
“We were impressed by the speed with which both Finland and Sweden relinquished their neutral status, the benefits that this neutral status gave them over many decades, which gave them a relatively independent role and gave them both in Europe and “We are on the international stage,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow during a press conference with Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi.
Lavrov also said that by joining NATO, Finland and Sweden gave up “special trade and economic investments and other ties with the Russian Federation.”
Lavrov’s comments follow NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s announcement that Sweden would become the 32nd member of the military alliance. Finland became a NATO member in April.
– Amanda Macias
4 hours ago
Kyrylo Barashkov presents his own bunker in Kiev
Kyrylo Barashkov, a 43-year-old immigration lawyer, in his own bunker in Kriukivschina, a small town near Kiev, July 10, 2023. After several rockets exploded near his home outside of Kiev, Kyrylo Barashkov decided this was the The only way to feed his family was to build his own bunker.
Kyrylo Barashkov, a 43-year-old immigration lawyer, starts a fire in his bunker in Kriukivschina, a small town near Kiev, on July 10, 2023.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
Kyrylo Barashkov, a 43-year-old immigration lawyer, starts a fire in his bunker in Kriukivschina, a small town near Kiev, on July 10, 2023.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
Kyrylo Barashkov, a 43-year-old immigration lawyer, starts a fire in his bunker in Kriukivschina, a small town near Kiev, on July 10, 2023.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
Kyrylo Barashkov, a 43-year-old immigration lawyer, starts a fire in his bunker in Kriukivschina, a small town near Kiev, on July 10, 2023.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
Kyrylo Barashkov, a 43-year-old immigration lawyer, starts a fire in his bunker in Kriukivschina, a small town near Kiev, on July 10, 2023.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
— Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
4 hours ago
On the third day, no ships sail under the Black Sea Grains Agreement as the landmark agriculture deal expires
A worker handles wheat grain in a granary of Aranka Malom Kft. Mill in Bicske, Hungary, Tuesday, May 16, 2023. The Black Sea Agreement has allowed Ukraine to ship more than 30 million tons of products from three major ports, helping to transport World food prices have fallen after skyrocketing following the Russian invasion.
Akos Stiller | Bloomberg | Getty Images
According to the United Nations-backed organization that tracks export data, no ships have left Ukrainian ports under the Black Sea Grains Initiative in the past three days as the landmark deal expires.
Since the Black Sea Grains Agreement began last July, more than 32 million tons of food and agricultural products have left Ukrainian ports. The deal, negotiated between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, created a humanitarian sea corridor for agricultural goods.
The deal expires in 6 days.
Over the weekend, a ship left the Ukrainian port of Odessa with 27,000 tons of corn bound for Tunisia.
– Amanda Macias
4 hours ago
Blinken discussed with lawmakers a possible transfer of an F-16 jet to Turkey, while Ankara mooted Sweden’s NATO entry
A Belgian F-16 jet fighter takes part in the NATO airborne nuclear exercise Steadfast Noon at Kleine-Brogel Air Force Base in Belgium Oct. 18, 2022.
Kenzo Tribouillard | Afp | Getty Images
Secretary of State Antony Blinken was speaking with US lawmakers about the transfer of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey while Ankara mulls Sweden’s membership of NATO, a State Department official confirmed to NBC News.
Biden’s top diplomat spoke with, among others, Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the official said.
On Monday, after meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to support Sweden’s membership in the world’s most military alliance.
– Amanda Macias
4 hours ago
Biden meets with Erdogan following Turkey’s decision to back Sweden’s NATO membership
US President Joe Biden (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hold bilateral talks at the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
President Joe Biden held a bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while the two attended the NATO leaders’ summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The meeting, agreed over the weekend during a nearly hour-long phone call, follows Erdogan’s decision to back Sweden’s bid to join NATO.
“I want to thank you for your diplomacy and your courage in tackling this. And I want to thank you for your leadership,” said Biden, who was sitting next to Erdogan.
The Turkish leader thanked Biden and wished him luck in the upcoming presidential election.
– Amanda Macias
5 hours before
Estonian PM says she ‘understands’ Zelenskyy’s frustration with NATO
Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, speaks with CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
5 hours before
The Baltic Sea is now essentially a NATO sea: Latvia’s prime minister
Krišjānis Kariņš, Prime Minister of Latvia, speaks with CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
5 hours before
Stoltenberg: We will invite Ukraine into NATO if the allies agree and the conditions are met
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gestures while delivering a news conference during a NATO leaders’ summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, July 11, 2023.
Ints Kalnins | Portal
At their summit on Tuesday, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine would receive another invitation to join the military alliance. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg outlined the compromises NATO allies have made on Ukraine.
“We will invite Ukraine to join NATO if the allies agree and the conditions are met,” he said, according to NBC News.
The full written statement can be found here.
-Matt clinch
5 hours before
“No doubt”: Germany says Ukraine’s future lies in NATO
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Tuesday insisted Ukraine’s future lay in NATO but said swift accession talks could only take place after the end of the war.
“The future of Ukraine lies in NATO, there is no doubt about that,” Pistorius said at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“All other issues will have to be discussed when the war is over. Ukraine’s membership in NATO cannot really be negotiated while the war is on. You have to wait for that moment and then we have to do it.” Of course, do it quickly.
When asked by CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick if Germany would like to see Ukraine as a member of NATO, Pistorius replied: “We always emphasize that… That’s my point of view, yes.”
– Sam Meredith
7 hours ago
Russia’s current account surplus down 85% yoy
Russia’s current account surplus — the level at which a country has more exports than imports — fell 85 percent to $20.2 billion in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year, the country’s central bank said.
Most of the decline was due to a drop in oil and gas revenues as Western sanctions took effect and Ural crude prices fell. Indeed, Russia’s current account surplus hit an all-time high in 2022 as imports fell on sanctions while oil and gas sales — and energy commodity prices — were buoyant.
— Natasha Turak
5 hours before
Russia launches drone attacks in Kiev, Odessa and Kherson ahead of NATO summit
Russia launched drone strikes overnight on the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, as well as on the Black Sea port city of Odessa and southeast of Kherson. Air alerts sounded across the country.
The attacks came just before a key NATO summit on Tuesday in Vilnius, Lithuania, at which the alliance plans to define a new defense strategy and add Sweden as a new member. According to local authorities, two people were injured and one killed in south-eastern Ukraine, while no deaths were reported in Kiev and Odessa.
“The enemy has attacked Kiev from the air for the second time this month,” Kyiv military administration chief Serhiy Popko wrote on Telegram, according to a Google translation. The Ukrainian Air Force said the drones were Iranian-made Shaheds and that 28 drones were launched but 26 were shot down. NBC could not independently verify the information.
— Natasha Turak
9 hours ago
European leaders reacted to criticism of defense spending
NATO members are supposed to spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense – but many don’t.
The prime ministers of Spain, Lithuania, the Netherlands and the Polish president discuss their spending plans with CNBC.
9 hours ago
Turkey will not spoil its relations with Russia, while strengthening relations with the West: officially
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, August 5, 2022.
Press Office of the Turkish President | Portal
Turkey will not jeopardize its ties with Russia even as it builds stronger ties with its Western allies, a senior Turkish official was quoted as saying by Portal.
Turkey this week took the pressure off NATO allies by abandoning its 14-month opposition to Sweden joining the alliance, allowing for the expansion of the defense organization that Russia says is a key cause of Ukraine’s invasion.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his country’s influence as a NATO member to force concessions from other states, including the formation of a European Union reform group, to revitalize the path for Turkey’s accession to the EU – a process that ultimately experienced tumultuous beginnings and stops encountering failures over the past few decades.
Turkey has refused to participate in Western sanctions against Russia, and its trade with Moscow has subsequently boomed over the past year.
— Natasha Turak
10 hours ago
Zelenskyy says it is “unprecedented and absurd” if NATO does not offer Ukraine a timeframe for membership
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during an official visit in Sofia, Bulgaria, July 6, 2023.
Stringers | Agency Anadolu | Getty Images
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that it was “unprecedented and absurd” that there was no timeframe for inviting his country to join the NATO military alliance.
“It looks like there is no willingness to invite Ukraine into NATO or make it a member of the alliance,” he said, according to a Google translation on Telegram. “For Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror.”
Zelenskyi will attend the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the group’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier in the day. The NATO chief stressed that Ukraine would receive a “strong, positive message for the way forward” regarding its membership.
Kyiv is vigorously pushing for NATO membership after Russia’s full-scale invasion, but security alliance officials have previously said membership is unlikely to continue while war is raging on Ukrainian territories.
— Ruxandra Iordache
11 hours ago
Kremlin says moving NATO infrastructure closer to Russia is a ‘mistake’
The Russian flag flies atop the dome of the Kremlin Senate building behind the Spasskaya Tower as traces of the recent drone incident can be seen on the roof in central Moscow, Russia, May 4, 2023.
Stringers | Portal
Europeans “don’t seem to understand” that moving NATO infrastructure closer to Russia’s borders is a “mistake,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an op-ed reported by Portal on Tuesday, as NATO held a major project in Vilnius, Lithuania summit held.
Peskov told a press conference that NATO’s eastward expansion in Europe was the reason for the war in Ukraine. Western nations maintain that Ukraine and other Eastern European states reserve the sovereign right to join an alliance of their choosing and that Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor in February 2022 was a spontaneous act of aggression.
Peskov added that Sweden’s forthcoming entry into NATO will have a negative impact on Russia’s national security. He said the Kremlin will “analyze in depth” statements made at the NATO summit and take the necessary measures to ensure Russia’s security.
— Natasha Turak
9 hours ago
The security situation in Eastern Europe “is getting worse”, says the Lithuanian President
The security situation in Eastern Europe and the Baltics in particular has deteriorated since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but more recently, the Lithuanian leader said.
Gitanas Nauseda, President of Lithuania, on the opening day of the annual NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
Audrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images
“The security situation in our region is deteriorating. It’s not improving, it’s not even stable,” Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick at the Vilnius NATO summit.
“We see the deployment of additional capabilities to the Kaliningrad region. Belarus is playing an increasingly important role as a close ally of Russia. So we have to be clear that we have to make decisions to strengthen the entire eastern flank,” he said.
Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave within Lithuania. Nauseda called for a more unified approach to defense by NATO members and greater integration of defense systems between Nordic and Baltic countries.
His comments followed news of the apparent transfer of forces from the Wagner Group, Russia’s private mercenary group, to Belarus after a mysterious failed mutiny in late June.
— Natasha Turak
11 hours ago
Nordics in NATO pose ‘a threat to nobody’: Norwegian PM
Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Norway’s Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt speak before the official opening of the NATO summit July 11, 2023 in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Petras Malukas | Afp | Getty Images
The Nordic nations in NATO pose no threat to anyone and have banded together behind the alliance for common defense and deterrence purposes, the Prime Minister of Norway told CNBC.
Now, for the first time in history, all Nordic countries will join NATO and, together with the Baltic States and Germany, create what some call the “NATO Sea” in Northern Europe. This follows the recent development that Turkey agreed to admit Sweden into the alliance after more than a year of resistance.
Asked if this could attract retaliation from Russia, Norwegian leader Jonas Gahr Store said: “Think of it this way: we are all members of NATO, but we are not changing as nations. We pose no threat to anyone. We want peace and stability in our region.”
“The threat comes from Russian aggression in Ukraine,” added the prime minister. “This has resulted in Finland and Sweden making historic decisions to join NATO… but from a Nordic perspective we will still be Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark. We will contribute to peace, stability and cooperation, but it has also done that. “To be a solid defense and deterrent, and that was a consequence of Russian aggression, that’s a fact.”
— Natasha Turak
12 hours ago
Russia’s invasion within the NATO alliance was expanding rather than curbing it: Stoltenberg
“[Putin] went to war because he wanted less NATO. He’s getting more NATO,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of the start of the US-led coalition’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Sean Gallup | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Russia’s war in Ukraine has proved counterproductive to President Vladimir Putin’s goals of curbing the expansion of the NATO military alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters on Tuesday.
“[Putin] went to war because he wanted less NATO. “He’s getting more NATO,” Stoltenberg said before the start of the US-led coalition summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. “Moscow, President Putin, has no veto on NATO expansion.”
The Kremlin pointed to national security risks from Kiev’s ambitions to join the NATO alliance before it launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Since then, Ukraine has reaffirmed its intentions to join both NATO and the EU, while Finland has been admitted as a member. Turkey finally approved Sweden’s application for membership on Monday.
— Ruxandra Iordache
12 hours ago
NATO will send a “clear, positive message” about Ukraine’s future path, says Stoltenberg
NATO will send a “clear, positive message” about Ukraine’s future path and its potential membership in the Western Defense Alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick during the Vilnius summit on Tuesday.
When asked whether Ukraine could rely on concrete security guarantees, the NATO chief replied: “The most urgent task is that Ukraine remains a sovereign, independent nation in Ukraine.”
“In terms of membership,” he added, “we will send a clear, positive message going forward. The text of the communiqué will be published within a few hours. I expect allies to agree that it is clear Ukraine needs to move closer to membership of NATO.”
Kiev has been pushing for NATO membership long before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Joining the alliance is now more important than ever for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government as they try to show more force in repelling the Russian invasion. But many NATO leaders fear dragging the organization’s members into a war with Russia.
— Natasha Turak