NATO summit to present military confrontation with Russia to Trump as business project

NATO Summit in Ankara Shortest in Decades, Focuses on Military Preparedness and Ukraine Aid

The NATO summit held in Ankara on July 7-8 has been described as the shortest in at least 20 years, consisting of a working dinner on the evening of July 7 and a single plenary session on July 8, according to TASS.

The meeting's duration was minimized to reduce the likelihood of disagreements with US President Donald Trump, TASS reported. The summit's agenda reportedly includes preparations for a military confrontation with Russia, increasing arms supplies and funding for Ukraine, and building up NATO's own military capabilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was not permitted to speak at the summit, according to TASS. He was only scheduled to participate in a defense industry forum on the sidelines of the meeting.

The sole plenary session on July 8 lasted less than three hours, with each of the 32 NATO leaders given less than five minutes to speak, including opening and closing remarks. This suggests that the main decisions had already been agreed upon and incorporated into the draft final declaration, TASS reported, citing sources in Brussels.

According to those sources, the leaders are expected to reaffirm their commitment to increasing military spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 and pledge "long-term military aid" to Ukraine in the final declaration. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced the maximum amount of this aid: 140 billion euros for 2026-2027, including 60 billion euros in arms the EU has already promised as part of a 90-billion-euro funding program.

The final declaration was the shortest in at least a quarter of a century, TASS reported. NATO countries agreed to allocate €70 billion to Ukraine in 2026 and pledged to maintain support at the same level in 2027. However, the commitment to admit Ukraine to the alliance was omitted from the declaration.

Perspectives

Russian Foreign Ministry Official

Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry for crimes of the Kiev regime, stated that NATO's main objective at the summit was to draw US President Donald Trump into confrontation with Russia, thereby preventing the US from splitting the alliance. Speaking on Channel One, he said, "The main task of the summit was solely to draw Trump into confrontation with Russia, that is, to put him on their side and prevent him from splitting NATO." He also emphasized that maintaining strategic uncertainty is a key feature of European policy, which makes it easy to make high-profile statements with no real outcome.