BRUSSELS — After the collapse of the Soviet Union, some questioned whether NATO had a real reason to exist. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gave NATO new urgency as a defensive alliance aimed at deterring a belligerent Moscow.
Now, at this week’s annual summit in Madrid, leaders of NATO’s 30 members will agree on the most sweeping overhaul of the alliance’s defenses since the Cold War.
The war in Ukraine has radically changed the security bill in Europe, leaving the alliance facing one of its greatest challenges in decades and alarmingly nervous allies among the NATO countries of Eastern and Central Europe and the Baltic states, all too familiar with are with Russian submission.
Among the measures expected in Madrid is a major increase in the number of troops allocated to the defense of NATO’s eastern flank, closest to Russia and Belarus. There will also be a major commitment to place heavy military equipment there, such as tanks and artillery, which would amplify an Allied response to any Russian threat or aggression.
The Russian invasion has exposed President Vladimir V. Putin’s apparent intent to turn back the clock more than 30 years and establish a broad, Russian-dominated security zone similar to the power that Moscow wielded during Soviet times.
But while Russia’s invasion has helped foster unity in the face of Russian aggression, fissures remain, as do internal debates within the alliance about how long the war will last, how it will end and the rising costs to the war. NATO and its European allies.
Discussions will also take place this week on how to convince Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to revoke his effective veto over Sweden and Finland’s applications to join NATO, a matter in which President Biden is inevitably involved. will be.
By attempting to join NATO, Sweden and Finland have given up decades of neutrality and non-alignment, underscoring how the war contributed to the potential expansion of an alliance that Putin had been trying to tame.
In Madrid, the alliance will also adopt its first updated mission in 12 years, portraying a world of new dangers, with threats not only from Russia but also from China, a US priority, and from new forms of warfare ranging from cyber and artificial intelligence to disinformation and restrictions on energy, food and rare minerals.
