NATO formalizes the membership of Sweden and Finland, there is a clash between Moscow and the West

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news of the day

The NATO summit opened on Wednesday in Madrid. If the subject of the day was the Russian invasion, with in particular the establishment of “a comprehensive assistance program for Ukraine to help it enforce its right to self-defence”, there was another great news on the menu. Early in the morning, Turkey lifted its veto on Finland and Sweden’s bid to join the Western alliance.

The organization therefore officially launched the accession of Finland and Sweden by signing the accession protocols. A decision deemed “deeply destabilizing” by Moscow, but welcomed by President Emmanuel Macron according to whom these two countries “have robust and interoperable capabilities” that can “contribute significantly to the security of all allies”.

The phrase

“China’s stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, our security and our values. »

NATO has denounced the “strategic partnership” between Beijing and Moscow against the “international order”.

The number

144 Ukrainian soldiers, including 95 defenders of Azovstal were exchanged with Russia at Mariupol. “This is the biggest exchange (with Moscow) since the start of the Russian invasion,” the Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate said on Telegram.

The trend of the day

The tone has gone up a notch on all sides between the West and Russia. In a joint statement, NATO members claimed that “Russia’s appalling cruelty” was causing “tremendous human suffering and mass displacement, disproportionately affecting women and children” and that Moscow was carrying ” full responsibility for this humanitarian catastrophe”.

But the real clash of the day is undoubtedly that between Boris Johnson and the Kremlin. The British Prime Minister said that “if Putin was a woman, which he is not, of course, really I don’t think he would have gotten into this crazy macho war”, calling it a “a perfect example of male toxicity”. Response from Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov: “Good old Freud would have loved to have had such a subject for his research during his lifetime” as the head of the British government.