NATO summit opens in Vilnius amid protests, criticism

Vilnius, July 12 Leaders of the NATO gathered here for a two-day summit that seeks to address "the most pressing challenges" facing the alliance amid protests and growing criticism.

Strengthening defence and bridging differences on the Ukraine war are on top of the summit's agenda. The alliance aims to adopt three regional defence plans backed by 300,000 troops on high readiness, Xinhua news agency reported.

NATO also wants its member states to agree on "a more ambitious" defence investment pledge to spend a minimum of two per cent of their GDP annually on defence. After "nine consecutive years of increased defence spending" since 2014, only 11 of the alliance's 31 members have reached or exceeded this target.

On Wednesday, the inaugural meeting of the new NATO-Ukraine Council will be held with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in attendance. NATO members are still divided on how to put Ukraine on a path to membership.

Ahead of the summit, protests against NATO have been held in several European countries, while politicians and experts criticised the alliance's expansion and its impacts.

Pointing out that the summit will see "calls for further escalation" of the Ukraine war, the "Stop the War coalition" organised a day of protests across Britain on Saturday, calling for peace. In Paris, a march against the military alliance drew hundreds of people, with many calling for France to withdraw from NATO.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova predicted the summit would be "a colourful spectacle in the worst traditions of Western manipulation," according to the RIA news agency.

"NATO is not a defence alliance; it is an alliance that wages illegal wars," Sevim Dagdelen, a member of the German Left Party, told Xinhua, accusing NATO of fighting a proxy war against Russia by supplying military aid to Ukraine.