Joe Biden will travel from the G7 summit in Bavaria to join North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) leaders in Madrid as the West continues to respond to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But an ex-NATO assistant secretary-general has claimed the 46th President faces a major test when he touches down in the Spanish capital on Tuesday.
Marshall Billingslea, a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and ex-President of the Financial Action Task Force under Donald Trump, told Fox News Digital: “This NATO Summit is a crucial test for Biden’s leadership.
“First, and most importantly, he must clear the way for Finnish and Swedish membership by brokering a deal with Turkey.
“Second, he has to get countries to deliver significant additional heavy weapons to Ukraine, particularly Germany, who has largely paid only lip-service to military aid.”
He added: “Third, he needs to move the alliance from its reactive posture into one which will have forces permanently based in the Baltics.
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“Whether he can deliver on any of these is an open question.
“A final one he needs to help answer with his NATO counterparts is how tough the new Strategic Concept will be with respect to Communist China?”
Washington is widely considered the leading partner in the 30-strong NATO group.
However, according to a G7 survey conducted for the Munich Security Conference, the UK is narrowly ahead of the US in its net rating in dealing with the Ukraine crisis.
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The POTUS said on Twitter: “As demonstrated at the G7 Summit, the US along with our allies and partners will continue to hold Russia accountable for such atrocities and support Ukraine’s defence.”
Mr Biden added: “Together, the G7 will deliver unwavering, unified commitment to support Ukraine and build on our unprecedented sanctions to hold President Putin accountable – sanctions that will only compound over time to further isolate Russia from the world economy.”
The US and G7 unveiled a five-stage plan to provide further support to Ukraine, including measures to target Russian military production and use tariffs on goods from the Kremlin to help Ukraine.
