Few observations on the prospect of #NATO enlargement after spending a week of meetings in #Stockholm 🇸🇪 and #Istanbul🇹🇷 1/n The issue of Turkish objection to Swedish and Finish membership will not fix itself. The two countries have very different perception of the legitimacy of the other side’s demands. Don’t expect this issue to go away before the #Madrid #NATO Summit. 2/n

It’s a good idea to provide Ukraine 🇺🇦 with #MiG-29 fighters - they will limit Russia 🇷🇺 bombing innocent civilians.

The decision should not be made in #Warsaw alone - the responsibility lies with #NATO as a whole.

What would it take to get Ukraine those #MIGs? Short 🧵
(1/8) Supplying Ukraine with #Mig29 will likely be seen by Russia as a significant step up in military help for Ukraine. Russia threatened unspecified retaliation. No one NATO country should be put under pressure to do it alone.
It shouldn't be matter for only bilateral 🇵🇱🇺🇸 conv.

🧵I’m both heartened and worried after just coming back from #Kyiv 🇺🇦, where @gmfus @ua_boell delegation, which I had a honor to lead, meet with key government officials, opposition, think tanks, and civil society. Here are few observations from the past days 👇 There is ZERO desire among Ukrainians to give in to Russian demands. They are determined and defiant. I don’t know what Putin is thinking, but the Ukrainian people are not going to accept a Moscow puppet government in Kyiv. If Putin’s decide to attack, Ukraine will make him pay.

🧵U.S. messaging following the Biden-Putin call is back on track. President Biden’s good phone calls with President Zelenskyy 🇺🇦 and leaders of the Bucharest Nine Eastern Flank NATO Allies went a long way to clarify U.S. position on key principles, formats and next steps👇 In a phone call with President Zelenskyy, Biden made clear his commitment to a principle “no decisions or discussions about Ukraine without Ukraine.” whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…

🧵President Biden’s statement yesterday about his video meeting with #Putin👇 seemed like a departure from the past weeks of Alliance-focused diplomacy and created very real concerns on #NATO eastern flank. There is number of questions that should be clarified by the U.S. admin: President Biden spoke of a meeting on Friday that would “discuss the future of Russia’s concerns relative to NATO writ large and whether or not we can work out any accommodations”. • What accommodations could be worked out with Russia that threatens Ukraine with armed invasion?

🧵Few observations from #Riga after talking with several senior officials from across the Alliance at the #NATO #ForMin meeting:
• the scale of Russian military build up is unprecedented - this is NOT a repeat of the spring built up. The talk of war in Ukraine is in the air. • Russia’s ultimate intentions are not clear - but the scale and capabilities that are being prepared would allow it to strike Ukraine from three directions, perhaps including from the north through Belarus.