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U.S. President Joe Biden addressed leaders of the NATO military alliance in Poland on Feb. 22, where he pledged continued support for their security after Russia suspended a major nuclear arms control treaty.
Biden addressed leaders from NATO’s eastern flank, colloquially called the “Bucharest Nine,” which joined NATO after decades of the Soviet Union’s communist domination.
The group counts among its members some of the staunchest NATO supporters and advocates for military aid to Ukraine, which has been defending itself from various Russian conquests since 2014.
“As NATO’s eastern flank, you are the frontline of our collective defense,” Biden said during the speech in Warsaw.
“You know better than anyone what is at stake in this conflict. Not just for Ukraine, but for the freedom of democracies throughout Europe and around the world.”
Biden delivered the remarks reaffirming the U.S. commitment to NATO’s security just days after several threats from Russia toward both Ukraine and the democracies of the West.
On Feb. 21, Russian leader Vladimir Putin delivered a nationally-televised speech in which he lambasted the West for what he called “colonialism,” repeated false claims about biological weapons in Ukraine, and blamed Western democracies for creating Nazism.
