“It’s important for Czechia today that the North American Treaty Organization accepted the NATO Strategic Concept. It is the second key document of this type that we have adopted. First, it was the Strategic Compass accepted by leaders on the EU level. For Czechia it opens the opportunity to reevaluate our own strategic documents. The unity NATO is displaying is fundamental. It really is bad news for Vladimir Putin,” said Minister J. Lipavský at a press conference.

The new strategic concept clearly reflects the Alliance’s approach towards Russia. The previous 2010 Strategic Concept dealt with Russian as a partner, yet now the current aggression in Ukraine has made Russia a prime security threat. The Alliance countries also agreed to sign entry protocols with Finland and Sweden after Türkiye withdrew its complaints against the accession of both countries into the Alliance. The leaders continued on Wednesday discussing the strengthening of the eastern flank of NATO. They agreed that reinforcing the flank was key and passed a corresponding document addressing the next step. Additionally, NATO committed to supplying enough forces to strengthen the eastern flank, depending on the further developments of the situation.   

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj also joined the NATO leaders’ meeting through video call. He challenged the NATO member states to supply Ukraine with more weapons and funding needed for defense. He also petitioned NATO to continue the open door policy.

In addition to informal meetings among the NATO ministers of foreign affairs, Minister Lipavský completed several bilateral meetings. He had discussions with the Icelandic Minister of Foreign Affairs T.K.R. Gylfadóttir, the British Minister Liz Truss, and also his Slovenian counterpart T. Fajon. On Thursday, June 30^th, Minister Lipavský and Prime Minister Fiala anticipate a meeting with the President of South Korea, a bilateral meeting with their Norwegian colleague A. Huitfeldt, and a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritania.