World leaders of member states belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) are meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 11-12 July for their latest summit, with Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine very much top of the agenda.
Nato is a political and military alliance of North American and European countries forged in the aftermath of the Second World War in the hope of avoiding future bloodshed and hostilities between nations through the realisation of three specific goals: deterring Soviet expansionism, preventing the revival of militant nationalism and encouraging European political integration.
