President Barack Obama will visit Estonia and will participate at the NATO summit in Wales next week in order to send a strong message to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the Russian intervention in Ukraine must stop.

At the same time, Obama will try to reassure NATO allies in the Baltic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, that the North Atlantic Alliance will stand by them if Moscow turnes its attention to them.

The White House announced that Obama will highlight the commitment of NATO’s common defense of each member.

“Russia, do not even think to engage in Estonia or in any area of the Baltic in the way you did in Ukraine,” said the director of the White House for European Affairs Charles Kaptsan,  outlining the president’s speech.

One of the objectives of the NATO summit will be to draw the attention of the Alliance to the east embankment to any attempt by Russia to increase its influence in Eastern Europe.

Another theme of the meeting will be to find ways to counter the threat of the Islamic State.

NATO diplomats said that during the dinner of EU leaders next Thursday will be discussed at length the growing threat posed by the IR on the southeastern tip of the Alliance along Turkey’s border with Syria and Iraq.

Moreover the challenge for Obama will be to convince the leaders of NATO to increase their defense spending.

European governments have neglected its commitment to provide 2% of their GDP on defense because of the difficult economic situation.