For US president Joe Biden, it was “historic”. France’s Emmanuel Macron hailed it as “unprecedented for Europe since the second world war”.
“The most important conclusion that Vladimir Putin needs to draw from what’s happened the last few days here in Nato and previously in the G7 is that we are totally united,” said Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister.
The hugs, handshakes and bonhomie this week at Nato’s annual summit in Madrid and a G7 meeting in Germany represented a new high-water mark of western unity against Russia in response to the war in Ukraine — the apogee of an alliance rejuvenated by conflict on its borders. There were also warnings about the growing threat represented by China.