US President Joe Biden on Sunday landed in Britain. (File)

London:

President Joe Biden arrived in Britain on Sunday the place he’ll meet King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier than persevering with to Vilnius for a NATO summit, then a last cease in new NATO member Finland.

Air Force One touched down at Stansted Airport north of London late within the night, an AFP journalist reported.

On Monday, he meets the British monarch at Windsor Castle, one of many royal residences, for the primary time since Charles III’s coronation.

The US president didn’t attend the ceremony, sending First Lady Jill Biden as an alternative.

Their talks are anticipated to deal with environmental points, the White House mentioned.

President Biden can even be assembly with Prime Minister Sunak at 10 Downing Street.

The essential a part of Joe Biden’s Europe journey would be the NATO summit within the Lithuanian capital Tuesday and Wednesday, the place the Western allies will talk about serving to Ukraine to oust Russian occupation forces.

Ukraine is urgent for admission to the navy alliance however President Biden mentioned in an interview aired on Sunday with CNN that this can’t occur till the warfare is over.

Bringing Ukraine in now would imply NATO is at warfare with Russia, Joe Biden mentioned.

Under Article 5, NATO is dedicated to defending any member that comes below assault. “It’s a commitment that we’ve all made no matter what. If the war is going on, then we’re all in war. We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case,” President Biden mentioned.

Joe Biden hopes to make use of the summit to stress Turkey to drop its opposition to Sweden’s all-but-cleared NATO membership bid. Entry requires unanimous consent from all members.

In a cellphone name with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday, Joe Biden “conveyed his desire to welcome Sweden into NATO as soon as possible,” the White House mentioned.

The two leaders “expressed their shared commitment to continue supporting Ukraine,” the assertion added.

President Erdogan’s workplace mentioned individually that he would meet with President Biden on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Vilnius.

The talks will deal with “Ukraine’s position in NATO, Sweden’s NATO membership, and the delivery of F-16” fighter jets, which Turkey hopes to safe from the United States, the Turkish presidency mentioned.

Ukraine and NATO

In the interview with CNN, Joe Biden had mentioned he was contemplating supplying Turkey and Greece with new or upgraded US-made fighter plane as an enticement for Turkey to let Sweden be part of NATO.

“And so, what I’m trying to, quite frankly, put together is a little bit of a consortium here where we’re strengthening NATO in terms of the military capacity of both Greece as well as Turkey and allow Sweden to come in,” Joe Biden mentioned.

“But it’s in play. It’s not done.”

President Erdogan’s workplace mentioned, nonetheless, that it was “not correct” to hyperlink Turkey’s need to amass the fighter jets, which want congressional approval, with Sweden’s membership drive.

While in Vilnius, Joe Biden can even ship a serious overseas coverage speech on the metropolis’s college.

His journey comes within the wake of a controversial choice to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which most NATO member nations have banned however which the United States continues to carry in its arsenal and says will assist Ukraine destroy closely dug-in Russian forces.

Joe Biden’s last cease earlier than returning to Washington on Thursday shall be Finland, which ended its historic neutrality to enter NATO in response to the Russian assault on Ukraine.

President Biden would be the first US president to go to Helsinki since Donald Trump went 5 years in the past to satisfy with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)