turkey s president erdogan has agreed to support sweden s bid to join the western defence alliance, after resisting it for many months. our europe editor, katya adler, is in the lithuanian capital, vilnius, for us. katya, how significant is this? it is really significant. and important for nato. turkey have been blocking swedenjoining nato because it said the country was too sympathetic and too soft on kurdish separatists and also not respectful enough towards muslims, it said. there have been a number of incidents of the burning of the koran. sweden says it was working towards allaying some of those fears and tonight, a huge sigh of relief from a toe. my phone has been alive with messages from nato diplomats because tonight is the eve of a high profile nato summit withjoe biden, rishi sunak, emmanuel macron
by the prime minister. are you pleased to be i here, president biden? this visit does coincide with a public difference between london and washington. america is going to supply ukraine with cluster bombs, weapons the uk and many others have banned. but today, both men wanted to focus on the bigger picture. joe, welcome. it s great to have you here, back in downing street. i think you ve been here a few times before, i know, but your first time as president. so we re very privileged and fortunate to have you here. thanks for coming. couldn t be meeting with a closer friend and a greater ally. the two leaders talked of closer economic ties short of a trade deal, energy security, and the regulation of artificial intelligence. the president and the prime minister met for around 30 or a0 minutes, meeting on the eve of the nato summit starting tomorrow in lithuania, as the allies debate and discuss when ukraine should be allowed to join and, crucially, how it wins the war.
and olaf scholz among other leaders coming to town. the focus of their summit, determined unity and continued support for ukraine and unity in the face of russian aggression. so turkey changing its mind helps that besic. turkey hopes it can show vladimir putin that his expansion ukraine is counter productive. sweden and finland arejoining nato because counter productive. sweden and finland are joining nato because of his invasion in ukraine. ukraine also wants tojoin his invasion in ukraine. ukraine also wants to join nato as a fully fledged member. that is a lot more complicated and will be discussed in detail here over the next two days at the nato summit. at the nato summit. katya adler, thank yom ahead of that nato summit, the us presidentjoe biden has paid a flying visit to the uk before travelling on to lithuania. this afternoon he met the king at windsor castle to discuss their shared interest in tackling climate change. president biden also met rishi sunak at number 10, wher
while in the uk, few american presidents would turn down tea with the british monarch. the king showed joe biden around windsor castle. your majesty. mr president, welcome. ..where theyjoined a discussion about the environment and climate change. his visit here was brief, too. by mid afternoon, the president set off for lithuania and the nato summit aboard air force one. the prime minister will follow him there tomorrow. chris mason, bbc news. it s been revealed that russia s president vladimir putin held talks with wagner mercenaries just days after he publicly accused them of treachery for launching a failed mutiny two weeks ago. the kremlin has confirmed that the wagner leader yegveny prigozhin was among those present at three hours of talks in the kremlin, where his mercenaries are said to have declared their loyalty to the president. our russia editor steve rosenberg joins us from moscow.