NATO has formally invited Macedonia to begin membership talks on joining the North Atlantic alliance.

The invitation, which was widely expected, was issued on July 11 after a summit meeting in Brussels of heads of states from the 29 members.

The invitation was made to the former Yugoslav republic after it resolved a multidecade dispute with NATO and EU member Greece over the country's official name.

Greece has long objected to Macedonia's formal designation, since one region in Greece shares the same name.

But earlier this year, the two countries settled their dispute, opening the door for NATO to extend a membership invitation.

Macedonia would become NATO's 30th member if the talks are successful.

The prospect of Macedonia joining NATO has already angered Russia, which has long opposed the eastward expansion of the alliance, fearing a military threat.

News reports on July 11 said Greece was preparing to expel two Russian diplomats suspected of meddling in the issue of Macedonia's name. Russia said it would respond in kind.

With reporting by Reuters

</s>Brussels: NATO has invited Macedonia to start membership talks, a step toward adding its 30th member despite Russia's objection and a show of unity at a time of growing discord between the Trump administration and Europe.

The invitation on Wednesday came at a NATO summit at which US president Donald Trump demanded more military spending by some allegedly deadbeat allies, as countries like Canada and Britain committed more to new manpower than new money.

Macedonia was given a pathway to membership on condition that it finally iron out its years-long standoff over its name with Greece, which took a big step forward with their deal last month that could rename the country North Macedonia.

Macedonian voters and the Greek parliament still must sign off on that deal, which could also dissipate any Greek objections to the Skopje government's ambition to join the European Union.

"Once all national procedures have been completed to finalise the name agreement, the country will join NATO as our 30th member," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. "It cannot become a member if it doesn't change its name. That's in a way the simple choice, and that's up to the people."

Russia, NATO's most prominent rival, has bemoaned the possible addition of another alliance member — reviving Cold War-style tensions. Macedonia prime minister Zoran Zaev hailed the invitation but noted objections from Moscow.

"Very obviously, they are against our integration in NATO," he said during a panel talk on the sidelines of the summit. Zaev alleged "some activities" by Russia had attempted to thwart the deal, but he did not elaborate.

The overture toward expansion came amid a backdrop of strain in NATO, notably continued pressure by Trump on allies to shoulder a bigger share of military spending — including a swipe at Germany for being "captive" to Russia.

Instead of new money, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his country will lead NATO's new military training mission in Iraq, with up to 250 troops. Canada isn't meeting an informal alliance target for member states to devote at least two percent of their economic output to defense spending.

Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, which is meeting that target, announced it would send 440 military personnel for a similar training mission in Afghanistan — by far the alliance's biggest foreign venture.

The pledges came as NATO has been keen to play a major role in the fight against terrorism and demonstrate its resilience against an aggressive Russia that has annexed Crimea and sown instability in Ukraine.

Canada's offer is part of NATO's attempt to help Iraq rebuild and ensure the Islamic State group can't gain a new foothold there. The commitment was part of the alliance's expansion of the number of trainers from around a dozen currently to several hundred operating out of the capital, Baghdad.

"Those sorts of tangible elements are at the heart of what NATO stands for," Trudeau said, in an apparent bid to outflank Trump's call for money. "You can try and be a bean counter and look at exactly how much this and how much money that, but the fundamental question is: is what you're doing actually making a difference?

The British commitment in Afghanistan came as NATO agreed to fund the Afghan army through 2024. Britain's addition will beef up efforts that are already training some 16,000 troops.

"I think that shows when NATO calls, the UK is one of the first to step up," May told reporters.

In another show of resolve to Russia, the leaders rubber-stamped a plan to ready a crisis response contingent that can be rapidly deployed — 30 battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 battleships within 30 days. It also endorsed two new command headquarters — in Norfolk, Virginia and Ulm, Germany — to help better move troops and equipment across the Atlantic and through Europe.

Questioned repeatedly about Trump's attacks on European allies and Canada, Stoltenberg acknowledged trans-Atlantic differences, but refused to say whether the US leader's attacks were damaging the alliance.

"My task is to make sure that we stay together, so if I started to freely reflect on all possibilities, then I would undermine the unity of this alliance," Stoltenberg said.

Trump's "America First" policies have exposed major differences between the US and many parts of Europe on issues as diverse as climate change, trade and tariff policies, and the Iran nuclear deal that the US leader has rejected.

Stoltenberg sought to depict his alliance as a force for unity that gives Washington a way to project power from Europe into Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

"A strong NATO is good for Europe and good for the United States," he said. "Two world wars and a Cold War taught us that we are stronger together than apart."</s>NATO has officially invited Macedonia to initiate membership talks aimed at having the former Yugoslav republic join the Brussels-based North Atlantic alliance.

The long-anticipated invitation was announced shortly after summit meetings involving the heads of states from all 29 member nations.

Greece and Macedonia have been feuding over who gets to use the name since Macedonia's independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Many Greeks say allowing the neighboring country to use the name insults Greek history and implies a claim on the Greek territory also known as Macedonia, a key province in Alexander the Great’s ancient empire.

As a result, Greece had blocked Macedonian efforts to join the EU and NATO. Despite recognition by 137 countries, Macedonia is officially known at the U.N. as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).

Last month, the two countries settled their dispute, opening the door for NATO to extend a membership invitation, triggering a round of talks that, if successful, would make Macedonia NATO's 30th member.

During discussions at an Atlantic Council forum held on the NATO summit side lines, Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said getting to this point required decades of hard work by both nations.

“We believed some much in our integration into NATO and also ... in the European Union,” Zaev said, calling the deal a historic agreement. “We believed so much that we will have a new friend: our [southern] neighbor, to cooperate together to preserve the future for citizens of both countries.”

“This issue was a wall between us,” he added. “Now, I think we’ve moved mountains with this agreement and have shown our neighbors — and probably to the rest of the world — that even that kind of most sensitive question is possible to solve.”

A political rift among Macedonia’s 2 million residents, along with members of its global diaspora, had further complicated efforts to resolve the name dispute, and determining precisely what percentage of Macedonians supported resolution of the name dispute depended largely upon who was asked.

A 2018 survey by the Skopje-based Institute for Democracy, which is connected to a Brussels-based consortium of NGO's that advocate European integration, said an estimated 61 percent of Macedonians support resolving the name dispute if it expedites EU and NATO membership.

A 2018 survey conducted by the United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD), a Washington-based advocacy group whose public statements typically align with the nationalist-leaning opposition — a faction of which is intensely pro-Russian — said less than 10 percent of Macedonians support the name change.

On Wednesday, Greece expelled two Russian diplomats over allegations that Moscow has interfered in its negotiations with neighboring Macedonia. Moscow, which sees its influence in the Balkans diminishing, opposes Skopje’s efforts to integrate with Western Europe.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, however, said the option to join the alliance is now exclusively up to the Macedonian people.

“It’s up to (the) people of (the) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to decide,” Stoltenberg said. “This is a once in (a) lifetime opportunity. Either they support the agreement and then they can join NATO, or they don’t support the agreement, and then they will not join NATO. They cannot get both.”

“I welcome the agreement,” he continued, adding all internal procedures to secure accession have been marshalled. “We have clearly stated that when all the internal procedures are finalized, including changes in [Macedonia's] constitution, and implementing the name agreement with Athens, then (the) Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia can become the 30th member of NATO.”

The deal calls for Macedonia to formally change its name to the Republic of North Macedonia, which still must be approved by a referendum.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO leaders agreed on Wednesday to invite Macedonia to begin accession talks to join the Western alliance, extending its reach in the Balkans in defiance of Russia following a landmark accord with Greece over the ex-Yugoslav republic’s name.

Macedonia will become NATO’s 30th member state, though its people must first back the deal with Greece in a referendum. Under the accord, the official name of the country will become ‘Republic of North Macedonia’.

“We have decided to invite the government in Skopje to begin accession talks to join our alliance,” the leaders said in their summit communique.

The invitation to the small Balkan state of two million people comes despite opposition from Russia, which sees its influence in the region diminishing. A small pro-Russian party in Macedonia also opposes NATO membership.

Leaders said their decision was rooted in a 2008 declaration when Macedonia was invited to join, only to be blocked by Greece over the long-running name dispute.

Greece said the name Macedonia implies a territorial claim on its northern province with the same name.

The government of Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev pushed for an agreement with Greece after coming to power in 2017, and the compromise on the name opened the way for Macedonia’s membership of NATO.

Zaev hopes the prospect of NATO membership will prove a powerful incentive for a Yes vote in the planned referendum.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and either they (the Macedonian people) support the agreement and they can join NATO, or they don’t support the agreement but then they won’t join it. They cannot get both,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference after the decision.

With Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia already members of NATO, as well as Bulgaria and Romania, and alliance forces keeping the peace in Kosovo, the invitation to admit Macedonia will leave only Serbia and the Serb-run part of Bosnia open to Russian influence in the Balkans.

But in a sign of continuing Russian interest in the region, Serbian authorities have announced that President Vladimir Putin will visit Belgrade in the autumn.

Moscow’s ambassador to Skopje has criticized Macedonia’s ambitions to join NATO, saying it could become “a legitimate target” if relations between NATO and Russia deteriorate further.

Macedonia will bring to NATO an 8,500-strong military which relies on a mixture of Russian, German, Greek and U.S. tanks and armored vehicles. Its aviation has no combat jets.

Separately on Wednesday, Athens said it would expel two Russian diplomats suspected of involvement in rallies in Greece against the Macedonian name deal. In a rare diplomatic tussle between two countries with traditionally warm ties, Moscow said it would respond in kind.</s>BREAKING: NATO invites Macedonia to begin membership talks, says it can join once name issue is resolved.</s>Last month, Skopje and Athens settled a decades-old dispute by agreeing that Greece's northern neighbour will go by the name "Republic of Northern Macedonia."

The breakthrough has prompted Athens to lift its opposition to Macedonia joining NATO, of which it is a member.

"We welcome the historic agreement between Athens and Skopje on the solution of the name issue," NATO leaders said in their joint summit statement. "In line with our policy, we have decided to invite the government in Skopje to begin accession talks to join our alliance."

But for Macedonia to join, it must still approve the deal with Greece in a referendum and constitutionally change its name. Only after that will the Greek parliament ratify the deal andMacedonia's membership in NATO.

Nationalists in both countries vehemently oppose the deal.

Since 1991, when Macedonia emerged as a sovereign state from disintegrating Yugoslavia, Athens has accused it of attempting to steal the Hellenic legacy of the Greek province of the same name and even of aspirations toward Greek-Macedonian territory.</s>Nato has officially invited Macedonia to initiate membership talks aimed at having the former Yugoslav republic join the Brussels-based North Atlantic alliance.

The long-anticipated invitation was announced shortly after summit meetings involving the heads of states from all 29 member nations.

Greece and Macedonia have been feuding over who gets to use the name since Macedonia’s independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Many Greeks say allowing the neighboring country to use the name insults Greek history and implies a claim on the Greek territory also known as Macedonia, a key province in Alexander the Great’s ancient empire.</s>LONDON (Reuters) - Macedonia expects to get approval to start NATO membership talks this week, its foreign minister said on Monday.

NATO starts a summit in Brussels on Wednesday and while most of the focus is on U.S. President Donald Trump's criticism of the alliance, Macedonia's membership is also on agenda.

"We have high hopes and I think everything is in the pipeline and it should happen this week," Nikola Dimitrov told Reuters on the sidelines of a Western Balkans summit in London. "We should be ready to start accession talks."

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said last month that the Atlantic alliance was likely to approve membership talks at this week's summit.

Stoltenberg said a recent agreement with Greece to change the country's name to Republic of North Macedonia and end a decades-old dispute was "an historic agreement which provides an historic opportunity" for Skopje to join NATO.

The name change has yet to be finalised, however, and is still subject to resistance in both countries.

"The finalization of our part of the (name) deal will be built into the NATO process," Dimitrov said.

Asked whether there were any concerns that Russia could try to disrupt the NATO membership process due to its own worries about the alliance encroaching on its traditional sphere of influence, Dimitrov said: "But for the name issue, we would have been a (NATO) member since 2008.

"So we firmly believe it is not against any other country and it will have a very calming important influence on the stability of the region. But of course until that happens we will be concerned about any obstacle that may appear."</s>Macedonia is formally expected this week to be invited by NATO to join the alliance - though it will become a member only if it adopts a new name that has been agreed in principle with NATO- member Greece but has yet to be endorsed by Macedonia’s people.

The invitation to the small Balkan state to become the 30th member of the U.S.-led alliance will be issued at a NATO summit despite opposition from Russia, which sees its influence in the region diminishing, and over protests from a small pro-Russian party at home.

“For us the sun rises in the West,” said Artan Grubi, a lawmaker of the Albanian DUI party which is part of the ruling coalition.

“(The invitation to join NAT0) is our dream coming true. We have been in the waiting hall for too long,” he told Reuters.

He was referring to 2008 when Greece blocked an invitation to Skopje to join because of the long-running dispute over Macedonia’s name. Greece says the name Macedonia implies a territorial claim over its northern province with the same name.

The then government led by a nationalist VMRO-DPMNE moved to build up closer ties with Russia, allowing an inflow of Russian capital, concretely represented today by a football club, a lead and zinc mine and a chromium plant all owned by Russians.

After a period of political crisis, the new government of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, elected in 2017, pushed for an agreement with Greece to solve the name dispute and the two sides have now agreed on the name of Republic of North Macedonia to open the door to NATO membership.

The government has said it will hold a referendum on whether to accept Macedonia’s new name so as not to face another Greek veto on membership - clearly expecting the prospect of NATO membership to be a powerful incentive for a Yes vote.

NATO diplomats said they had negotiated a wording for the invitation to be issued at the Brussels summit which will prudently avoid naming the country and will instead refer to “the government in Skopje”.

Janko Bacev who heads United Macedonia party with links to Russia’s dominant United Russia says NATO membership will bring nothing good to Macedonia.

“Russia is our true ally, and it has never asked us to change the name,” Bacev, whose party failed to enter the parliament in a 2016 election, said.

VMRO-DPMNE party, the single biggest party in the parliament has mixed feelings.

“We support NATO membership, but we are against changing the name (of the country),” Aleksandar Nikolovski of VMRO-DPMNE said.

The move to bring Macedonia into NATO will leave only Serbia and the Serb-run part of Bosnia open to Russian influence in the Balkans.

Albania, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia are NATO members while NATO forces are still in a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

In a sign of continuing Russian interest in the region, Serbian authorities have announced President Vladimir Putin will visit in autumn.

Russia’s ambassador to Skopje has criticized Macedonia’s ambitions to join NATO and warned the former Yugoslav republic that it could become “a legitimate target” if relations between NATO and Russia deteriorate further.

Macedonia will bring to NATO a 8,500-strong military which relies on a mixture of Russian, German, Greek and U.S. tanks and armored vehicles. Its aviation has no combat jets.

“With NATO membership, Macedonia becomes a part of the most powerful Alliance. That enhances both our security and economic prosperity,” Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska told Reuters in an email.

She said she expected to “move forward with the accession treaty at the end of the year.”

Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov said in London this week that he had “high hopes” that talks on accession should be able to start soon.

Slavco Pesov, a 66-year-old pensioner sat on a bench near the banks of the Vardar River in Skopje.

“We have to go with the flow. Our neighbors are there (in NATO),” he said. “I am really hoping membership will bring a better economic situation. At the moment it is so bad that many young people are leaving.”</s>NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has officially greeted Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev in a ceremony to mark the start of membership talks, a development that drew an angry response from Moscow.

"Detailed accession talks will now begin to help your country make its final preparation for its full membership," Stoltenberg told Zaev on the sidelines of the Western alliance's summit in Brussels on July 12.

"Once all your national procedures are completed and all NATO allies have ratified your accession, you will become the 30th member of this alliance with a seat at our table, with an equal voice in our discussions, and the equal vote in our decisions," he said.

Zaev hailed the announcement, which had been expected, as a "great, historic day" for Macedonia, a landlocked country of 2 million people in the Western Balkans region.

"This decision is a recognition of our committed engagement over more than two decades," Zaev said.

"This is recognition for the work of all Macedonian politicians, from the time of our independence up to now. It is recognition for our institutions and for all political parties. This is the recognition for all our citizens and civil society and all others who patiently waited for this day," he added.

NATO has made clear that the invitation was largely contingent upon the implementation of Macedonia's agreement with alliance member Greece to resolve a multi-decade dispute the country's official name.

Greece has long objected to Macedonia's formal designation, since one region in Greece shares the same name.

But earlier this year, the two countries settled their dispute, with the country agreeing to rename itself as North Macedonia, although some opposition remains in the country to the compromise agreement.

The prospect of Macedonia joining NATO has angered Russia, which has long opposed the eastward expansion of the alliance, fearing a military threat.

"The pulling into NATO by force of Macedonia only confirms that the policy of 'open doors' has become an aim in itself and a tool to gain control of geopolitical territory," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on July 12.

Zaev has also expressed hopes of gaining European Union membership for his country, a move that would likely anger Moscow further.

The EU had urged Macedonia to settle its dispute with Greece and also step up the pace of domestic reforms and to cut down on corruption.

"Without open perspectives for NATO and EU membership, Macedonia's future is uncertain," Macedonian Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska said on July 10 in a nationally televised address.

With reporting by Reuters and Bloomberg
NATO formally invites Macedonia to begin membership talks to join the organization.