What is NATO and what just happened at the Vilnius summit?

World leaders met in Lithuania 11-12 July for a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit.

• The future of the war in Ukraine was under discussion, while Sweden’s bid to join NATO is one step closer now Türkiye has dropped its objections.This is what you need to know about NATO’s history and how it works.

The image of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in khaki green military fatigues, sitting alongside suited world leaders in Vilnius this week to discuss global security was striking.The Lithuanian capital was the setting for a crucial meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – NATO – the world’s most powerful military bloc.While NATO gave Zelenskiy an assurance that Ukraine would be invited to join, it stopped short of outlining a clear timetable for membership.However, the summit did include the inaugural session of the NATO-Ukraine Council on 12 July, where Zelenskiy was welcomed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg said: ”We stand with you in your courageous struggle for freedom and sovereignty … We need to keep up and further expand our support to help Ukraine liberate its land and deter future Russian aggression.”At this Summit, we have reaffirmed that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance and we have made decisions to bring Ukraine closer to NATO.”Today we meet as equals. And I look forward to the day we meet as Allies.”Meanwhile, the G7 countries unveiled a new framework to boost Ukraine’s long-term security and defences against Russia. US President Joe Biden said: “NATO is stronger, more energized and yes, more united than ever in its history. Indeed, more vital to our shared future.”

Earlier in the week, before the summit, Sweden’s bid to join NATO was finally approved by Türkiye, which had been blocking its application pending Sweden recognizing rebel groups as terrorist organizations.On 10 July, NATO said: “Sweden has amended its constitution, changed its laws, significantly expanded its counter-terrorism cooperation against the PKK, and resumed arms exports to Türkiye, all steps set out in the Trilateral Memorandum agreed in 2022.”Stoltenberg did not give a date for when Sweden’s accession would be ratified.

Sweden, and Finland, which has a 1,340km border with Russia, dropped their traditional stance of neutrality and applied to join NATO after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.In June 2022, a declaration from the 30 members of NATO, formally invited the two countries to join, while also naming the Russian Federation as “the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area” – and reiterating “unwavering support” for Ukraine.Finland officially became the 31st Ally of NATO on 4 April, 2023, after NATO Allies signed its Accession Protocol on 5 July, 2022. All 30 national parliaments had voted to ratify the country’s membership.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto attends a meeting to sign Finland’s national NATO legislation in Helsinki, Finland on March 23, 2023. Image: Fanni Uusitalo/Finnish government/Handout via REUTERSWhat is the history of NATO and how does it work?

NATO’s history is tied to Russian expansionism. It was created in 1949, in response to then Premier of the USSR Joseph Stalin’s attempts to bring other states under communist rule.The US, Canada, the UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal signed a treaty stating that “an armed attack against one or more … shall be considered an attack against them all”. It has since gone through nine rounds of enlargement: by the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989, there were 16 countries and in the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, former Soviet countries began joining, taking the total up to 30. Now, with Finland on board, the member total is 31.The Madrid Summit Declaration in June 2022, reaffirmed NATO’s open-door policy, which allows any European country to apply to join, but they must commit to defence spending of 2% of GDP.