MUNICH (Reuters) – Politicians, military officers and diplomats from around the world are meeting in Munich on Friday to discuss Europe’s security situation, nearly a year after the start of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US Vice President Kamala Harris are among those attending the conference, which kicks off Friday and runs through Sunday. Senior Ukrainian officials are also expected to speak there.
Last year’s conference took place just days before the start of the war in Ukraine.
Attendees of the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering focused on defense and diplomacy, will also discuss the global impact of war on issues ranging from energy supplies to food prices.
Conference president Christoph Heusgen, a veteran German diplomat, said organizers had not invited Russian officials this year because Putin had “broken with civilization”.
However, Moscow made its voice heard by accusing Washington of inciting Ukraine to escalate the conflict and claiming that the United States was now directly involved in the war because “crazy people” dreamed of defeating Russia.
A record-sized US delegation is expected at the conference, including Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a third of the US Senate.
“We expect a signal of unity from the transatlantic community,” Christoph Heusgen told reporters.
Other major international issues will also be discussed at the conference, including relations between the West and China.
China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, is expected to attend and Antony Blinken plans to meet him, in what would be their first face-to-face talk since the US shot down what it believes is a spy balloon Chinese and other flying objects.
(Report Andrew Gray, Andreas Rinke and Sabine Siebold; Written by Andrew Gray and Matthias Williams; French version Augustin Turpin, edited by Kate Entringer)
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