Fallout from U.S. cluster munitions decision strains NATO unity over Ukraine
Cluster munitions banned under international law, in a convention joined by Canada but not the U.S. or Ukraine
NATO leaders gathered in Lithuania's capital on Tuesday after spending the days running up to their annual summit bulldozing some of the most contentious and divisive issues — including defence spending and Sweden's proposed membership in the military alliance — off the agenda.
However, concern about the decision by the United States to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine is a fresh challenge to allied unity.
Keeping everyone on the same page was a preoccupation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his remarks going into the gathering in Vilnius.
"This NATO Summit is going to be an opportunity for all of us to gather to demonstrate our solidarity and our conviction that continuing to step up and stand together is the path to a more peaceful world," Trudeau said Monday while announcing an increased Canadian military commitment in eastern Europe.
As he spoke, the leaders of Turkey and Sweden hammered out their differences over the stalled admission of the Nordic country. Ankara, on the eve of the meeting, dropped its opposition, clearing the path for Stockholm's eventual inclusion as NATO's 32nd member.
"This summit is already historic before it has started," Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the alliance, said early Tuesday.
Watch: NATO boss asked about lack of timeline for Ukraine membership:
Turkey's year-long refusal to give its consent for Sweden's application has been a major irritant and drag on allied unity. The deal, brokered late Monday, is a boost to the alliance.
In formally greeting U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday, Stoltenberg also touted how countries have agreed on a new defence funding formula that will see the minimum level set at two percent of a nation's gross domestic product.
Biden was asked last week why the U.S. plans to deliver cluster munitions to Ukraine — munitions that can be dropped from the air or fired from howitzers, spreading small bomblets over a large area.
"They've run out of ammunition," the U.S. president said, referring to the shortage of large-calibre artillery shells in both Ukraine and among allied nations supplying them.
Cluster munitions are banned under international law, in a treaty ratified almost 13 years ago. As of February 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, a total of 123 states, including Canada, had joined the convention.
Among the nations who are not signatories: the United States, Russia and Ukraine.
The U.S. decision to supply the munitions, which are widely seen as indiscriminately killing and wounding civilians, presents a new, urgent dilemma for allies who are trying to remain united behind Ukraine.
"Canada was one of the countries that led on the banning of cluster munitions around the world," said Trudeau. "And we will continue to stand very strongly that they should not be used."
Trudeau wasn't specific on what he'd say to Biden or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who arrived late Tuesday in Vilnius.
Watch: U.S. cluster munitions decision won't impact Canadian aid to Ukraine, Joly says:
Signatories to the treaty are obliged to discourage the use of cluster munitions up to and "including the imposition of penal sanctions to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited" under the convention.
That means Canada and its allies may be required to sanction Ukraine if the weapons get used. The Liberal government has already condemned Russia's use of the munitions during the full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022.
Whether countries would have to go further and perhaps limit their own weapons exports to Ukraine is an emerging subject of debate.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly wouldn't say specifically what Canada will do if cluster weapons get used.
"We believe in our international obligations when it comes to cluster munitions and then mines and we abide by them," Joly told reporters on the margins of the summit Tuesday.
"So of course, we do not agree with the American position. And we've mentioned it to the American officials. Meanwhile, what I think the alliance needs to focus on is really expanding the defence industrial capacity, because we're in this position right now."
Disarmament and human rights groups have expressed outrage at the U.S. decision.
"The Biden administration's decision to transfer cluster munitions will contribute to the terrible casualties being suffered by Ukrainian civilians both immediately and for years to come. Russia and Ukraine's use of cluster munitions is adding to Ukraine's already massive contamination from explosive remnants and landmines," Paul Hannon of the Cluster Munition Coalition said in a release following last week's announcement.
Retired U.S. Marine colonel Mark Cancian told Reuters that allies are going to have to reconcile their calls for Washington to do more to assist Ukraine with their aversion to these kinds of weapons.
"U.S. inventories of other munitions are already very low," Cancian said.
"We've given about as much as we can. So there really isn't an alternative out there now. But the other one is that these munitions are just very effective, much more effective than regular artillery against certain kinds of targets. And now with the Ukrainian offensive not doing as well as people had hoped, they need a boost, and this could provide that boost."
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With files from Reuters