Joe Biden to Meet with Czech PM and Other NATO Representatives
Fresh from his visit to Ukraine, US President Joe Biden will rally NATO’s eastern allies in Poland on Wednesday (22 February), a group of countries in which most – but not all – are strong supporters of military aid to Ukraine. Biden used the trip to rally support for Ukraine as the war enters its second year, with no end in sight, and it came on the same day as a speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he accused the West of seeking Russia’s destruction and dangled the threat of nuclear war. Before returning to Washington on Wednesday, Biden will meet leaders of the Bucharest Nine, the countries on NATO’s eastern flank, to reaffirm support for their security. The ‘Bucharest Nine’ (B9) was founded on 4 November 2015 in Bucharest, at the initiative of the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis and the President of Poland Andrzej Duda during a bilateral meeting between them. It gathers the Presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. All joined the Western military alliance after being dominated by Moscow during the Cold War, and most, with the notable exceptions of Hungary and Bulgaria, are now among...