The two leaders will discuss Greece’s bailout program, the refugee crisis, recent developments in Europe, and regional security issues. The meeting will take place at an initiative of the US President, according to sources.
The two-day NATO summit will be dominated by the 28 member alliance’s response to Russia and a conflict in eastern Ukraine that the West accuses Moscow of fomenting at a cost of more than 9.000 lives.
In a statement on Thursday, NATO also said it would “strengthen political and practical cooperation with Ukraine, Georgia and the Republic of Moldova” -all former Soviet republics experiencing increasing tensions with Russia. In addition, the EU and NATO signed a declaration on Friday aimed at bolstering the region's security ahead of the full NATO summit Friday afternoon.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman was quoted by Russia's Itar Tass news agency as saying “If one needs badly to look for an enemy image so that [one can] promote anti-Russian, so to say, hysteria, and then, with this emotional background, to deploy more and more air force units, ground troop units, getting them closer to Russian borders, then one can hardly find any common ground for cooperation”.