“You are the frontlines of our collective defence,” Biden tells eastern NATO leaders in Warsaw

The leaders of the Bucharest Nine (B9) – an alliance of states on NATO’s eastern flank stretching from the Baltic to Bulgaria – today met in Warsaw for talks attended by US President Joe Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“You are the frontlines of our collective defence,” Biden told the gathered heads of state. “You know better than anyone what’s at stake in this conflict [with Russia] not just for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout Europe and around the world.”

“The leaders around this table have repeatedly stepped up to reaffirm our shared commitment to all these values,” he continued. “We provided critical security assistance to Ukraine and critical support to literally millions of refugees…And together, we’ll continue our enduring support for Ukraine as they defend their freedom.”

The B9 was formed in 2015 at the initiative of Romania and Poland. The other members are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia.

Following today’s summit, the B9 released a joint statement hailing Biden and Stoltenberg’s presence as “testimony to the strength of the transatlantic bond and underscoring NATO’s unwavering commitment to defend every inch of allied territory” – a pledge that Biden made explicity during the summit.

The B9 also declared that “Russia is the most significant and direct threat to allied security”, and noted that its invasion of Ukraine one year ago had “ravaged peace and security in Europe”.

However, they argued that “Russia has gravely miscalculated by invading Ukraine and undermining the rules-based international order”. It’s aggression has made NATO “stronger and more united than ever”. A similar message was delivered by Biden yesterday evening during a speech in Warsaw.

Today’s gathering was a chance for the B9 countries to work out a joint position ahead of July’s NATO summit in Vilnius, noted Marcin Przydacz, head of the international policy office of Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was hosting the event.

“We, as NATO’s eastern flank, want to work out the agenda for this summit. We also want to work out our expectations regarding possible decisions to be taken in Vilnius,” he said.

“All the countries of NATO’s eastern flank care that the military presence – in every possible infrastructural aspect, also in terms of armaments, equipment – is expanded as much as possible, because it is us, as NATO’s eastern flank, who today have the responsibility for maintaining stability in this part of the world,” he added.

At the summit, Stoltenberg, like Biden, assured those present of NATO’s commitment to defending “every inch of the of allied territory”.

“We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security,” he said. “We must break the cycle of Russian aggression.”

Stoltenberg also reiterated the urgent need to “sustain and step up our support for Ukraine” and to give the Ukrainians “what they need to prevail.”

Main image credit: Mark Borawki/KPRP

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.