US President Joe Biden held a conversation with the so-called "Bucharest Nine," the countries of NATO's eastern flank. We note that the conversation took place in the continuation of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This is reported in a communiqué of the White House, reports "European Truth.
The conversation was attended by presidents of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Poland and Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, as well as Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Geger.
It is noted that Joseph Biden stressed the U.S. commitment to transatlantic security and NATO's Article 5 that an armed attack on one or more Alliance countries in Europe or North America would be considered an attack on all of them.
"The leaders discussed Russia's destabilizing actions along the Ukraine border and the need for a unified, prepared and resolute NATO posture to collectively defend allies. President Biden emphasized the U.S. commitment to continue close consultation and coordination with all our transatlantic allies and partners in efforts for deterrence, defense, and dialogue," the White House noted.
Recall that Biden also had a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the evening of December 9 (Kiev time).
As a reminder, Biden's national security adviser earlier assured that Biden in his conversation with the Russian president made no concessions or commitments in response to Putin's demand not to accept Ukraine and other Russian neighbors into the alliance, and insisted that sovereign states are free to choose with whom to join alliances. At the same time, the White House agreed to negotiate with Putin's team on how to address Russian concerns about Ukraine's possible accession to the Alliance.
