Fresh off his visit to Kyiv on Monday and before he leaves Warsaw, Poland, on Wednesday, President Joe Biden is expected to meet with eastern flank NATO allies as fears over Russia’s unrelenting aggression persist.
Biden will hold talks with leaders of the Bucharest 9, Eastern European countries with close proximities, if not direct borders, and histories with Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine nears its one-year anniversary this week.
ESTONIA: RUSSIA’S WAR IN UKRAINE PRESENTS ‘EXISTENTIAL’ THREAT TO NATO’S EASTERN MEMBERS
The Bucharest 9 is made up of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. The countries came together in 2014 after Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. All members were either once part of the Soviet Union or part of the Warsaw Pact.
Many of them worry that Russian President Vladimir Putin will attack them if his assaults in Ukraine continue to be largely unsuccessful.
Estonia has already sounded the alarm on Russia’s aggression this week, with Ambassador Kristjann Prikk saying Putin’s invasion of Ukraine presents an “existential” threat to Ukraine’s neighbors in NATO.
“For the West, I would argue, this is a 1939 moment again: if Putin emerges from this war with something that he didn’t have before, then the consequences for the entire West will be catastrophic,” Prikk said on Tuesday. Estonia borders Russia to the west and is south of Finland.
Prikk made his comments while marking the 105th anniversary of Estonia’s independence from the Russian Empire. The country’s declaration of independence is commemorated every year on Feb. 24, a date now associated with Putin’s launch of the invasion to overthrow the Ukrainian government.
Poland is also weary of what a successful Russian invasion of Ukraine would mean for its people. “…they are preparing the next round,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said of Russia to Newsweek. “They are preparing for the next attack, the next offensive, potentially on the Baltic States or Finland or Poland or Romania or Moldova — any other country bordering [Russia].”
Biden met with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw on Tuesday, a day after traveling to Kyiv to speak with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. While in Warsaw, Biden denounced Putin’s actions in Ukraine, saying, “Putin’s war of conquest is failing. He thought he could outlast us. I don’t think he’s thinking that right now.”
Biden also met Tuesday in Warsaw with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who last week claimed Moscow was behind a plot to overthrow her country’s government, per the Associated Press.
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In the theme of the week for Biden on his European visit, he is set to shore up more support and confidence for the U.S.’s NATO allies before he departs back to Washington, D.C. On Tuesday, Biden announced that the U.S. will host a NATO summit in 2024 to commemorate the anniversary of the alliance’s formation.
“And let there be no doubt. The commitment of the United States to our NATO alliance and Article Five is rock solid,” Biden said to applause from the audience. “And every member of NATO knows it, and Russia knows it as well. An attack against one is an attack against all. It’s a sacred oath.”
