Outgoing UK leader David Cameron said Saturday at the Nato summit in Warsaw that Britain would "make the most of" its role in international clubs such as Nato, the G7, and the G20 in order to project influence abroad after it leaves the EU. He said it would contribute to Nato operations that serve British interests, such as its Aegean anti-migrant smuggling mission, as well as select EU military operations.
French president Francois Hollande said Saturday at the Nato summit in Warsaw that several leaders said they had seen the French-Germany football game in the Euro 2016 championship on Thursday, which France won. He said German chancellor Merkel was "very elegant" in her remarks. He said positive comments about France by the German team showed that "there's a European spirit" despite the Brexit shadow over the EU.
French leader Hollande said Saturday at a Nato summit in Warsaw he would send "a company" of French soldiers to Estonia next year and Lithuania in 2018 as part of a Russia-deterrent force. He said the move was needed to show "unity". "We need to be firm with Russia ... but we also need to maintain dialogue", he added. He had said Friday Russia was a "partner" not a "threat".
Montenegrin PM Djukanovic told EUobserver in an interview at the Nato summit in Warsaw that Russia is a "peril" in terms of its efforts to halt Western Balkan states' EU and Nato integration. He said it is giving support to NGOs, media, and local leaders in conservative minorities in the region who oppose Western alignment. He said the EU needed a more "proactive, offensive" enlargement policy to counter Russian influence.
Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite told press at the Nato summit in Warsaw Saturday that Germany's decision to lead a Nato battalion in Lithuania "shows a change of mindset" in Berlin, which is "ready to take more responsibility" for European security". She said Russian leader Putin would get a "not so pleasant message" from the summit "that it is not so easy to split Europe from a security point of view".