Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has met with his Spanish counterpart overnight, with the NATO summit about to kick off. Brett_McLeod 9News LATEST:
After urgent top-level talks, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said "we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO."
The agreement comes at the opening of a crucial summit dominated by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. US President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders arrived in Madrid for a summit that will set the course of the alliance for the coming years. The summit was kicking off with a leaders' dinner hosted by Spain's King Felipe VI at the 18th-century Royal Palace of Madrid.
Moscow's invasion on February 24 shattered European security and brought shelling of cities and bloody ground battles back to the continent. NATO, which had begun to turn its focus to terrorism and other non-state threats, has had to confront an adversarial Russia once again.Spain's King Felipe VI listens as President Joe Biden speaks at the Royal Palace of Madrid.
Ending the deadlock will allow NATO leaders to focus on their key issue: an increasingly unpredictable and aggressive Russia.
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