After the summit with the North Korean leader, the U.S. president will meet with the president of Russia. The European Union and NATO are expectant to this meeting

On July 16 will be held the second major summit of President Donald Trump, but this time who will accompany him will be the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin. However, the expectation of the meeting really manifests itself in what may be the reactions of the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It must be remembered that on July 3, the U.S. president sent letters to a part of the NATO members requesting an increase in military spending. So far, the Secretary General of the organization has been the only one to manifest himself in favor of the meeting between the two leaders.

Since the last summit of the Group of 20 (G20), it had been speculated about the meeting between Trump and Putin. Even though his advisors had suggested him not to congratulate the Russian president after his re-election in March 2018. By that time, Trump had stated that his interest in the meeting with his counterpart lay in the tension between the two countries, as well as in the situation in Syria and North Korea. This is what the CNN network remembers in its special about the summit that will be held on July 16 in Helsinki, Finland.

Leer en español: ¿Por qué la comunidad internacional desaprueba la reunión entre Trump y Putin?

The curious thing about the summit between the two leaders is that it will be held only days after the summit of the leaders of the NATO member countries. This will take place in Brussels on July 11 and 12. NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said at a press conference after the details of the US-Russia summit, that he supports the meeting and that this "exemplifies the Alliance's policy towards Russia, combining defense and dialogue."

However, in some countries, the holding of such a meeting was not received with approval, according to the British newspaper The Times, which states that "a peace agreement with Putin can weaken the Atlantic Alliance since military commitments and presence can be reduced the American military in the old continent." Taking this interpretation IGNORE INTO account, the international analyst Carlos Martínez assumes that for the NATO member countries the global dominance of the United States is more important than a calm relationship with Russia.

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Martínez also assures that, for Merkel and Macron, main heads of the European Union, the summit must raise concerns related to the stability of the union. "A truce between the two superpowers can destabilize the old continent, the main reason for the constitution of NATO, the containment of Russia is lost, and this can trigger the reduction of contributions to the organization, mainly in the respective military", said Martinez in an interview with LatinAmerican Post.

According to Max Boot, a historian and security analyst consulted by CNN, for Europeans, the fear of the summit between Putin and Trump is that the United States will betray them and abandon the Alliance. "Oddly enough, Donald Trump could also do Europeans a favor if he were to get better involved with Russia, as the union could take advantage of this point to cohere after the tensions that currently exist. However, it would be to lose the greater opposition that there is towards the Russians taking IGNORE INTO account that NATO arose for its containment when it existed as USSR," said Boot.

Increasing military spending?

The Portuguese Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, spoke on July 4 regarding the NATO Summit and the letter received from the White House, in which it is suggested to increase military spending. For Santos, "international peace is not achieved only by increasing military spending, public aid for development, a cooperation of another kind also contributes to security", making reference to the fact that during the summit it is intended to speak out against the American suggestion.

According to The New York Times, in June 2018, President Donald Trump through Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis sent letters to the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and to the President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez. As something to highlight, he also included Theresa May from the United Kingdom, considering that the British have been the strongest allies for the United States. According to The New York Times, the governments of Norway, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal were also participants in these letters, in which they were suggested to increase military spending, arguing that these countries do not contribute enough with the Alliance.

LatinAmerican Post | Carlos Eduardo Gómez Avella

Translated from "¿Por qué la comunidad internacional desaprueba la reunión entre Trump y Putin?"