After Russia's shock invasion of Ukraine, what issues are likely to dominate the Nato summit?
This region has the potential to be a major flashpoint between Nato and Russia. This month Russia threatened "practical countermeasures" after Lithuania blocked some EU-sanctioned goods travelling across its territory en route to Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were all once - involuntarily - part of the Soviet Union. Today, they are independent nations and all in Nato. There are four multinational battle groups stationed in these three countries, along with Poland, as part of what is called the Enhanced Forward Presence. The UK leads the one in Estonia, the US the one in Poland, Germany in Lithuania and Canada the one in Latvia.
But because Finland and Sweden are so important to Nato, every effort will be made to find a way around Turkey's objections. Once they join, the Baltic Sea will effectively become a "Nato lake," bordered by eight member states, with eventually a joined-up air defence and integrated missile system. When Donald Trump was US President, he famously threatened to take America out of the alliance if other member states did not pull their weight. This had some effect, but the Ukraine invasion has had more. Just three days after it began, Germany announced it would allocate an additional €100bn on defence and finally raise its quota above 2%. This week, the Nato chief announced that nine of the 30 member states have reached or exceeded the 2% target, while 19 have clear plans to reach it by 2024.
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