“We will defend every inch of NATO”

After a historic visit to kyiv in which he pledged himself to Ukraine’s victory, Joe Biden it also offers new security guarantees to NATO’s Eastern flank against any eventual attack by Russia. When it is about to be a year since the outbreak of the war, the US president participated this Wednesday in a summit in Warsaw of the Bucharest Ninea group of countries from the former communist bloc that joined NATO after the end of the Cold War.

“As the Eastern flank of NATO, you are now on the front line of our collective defense and they know better than anyone what is at stake in this conflict, not only for Ukraine but for the freedom of democracies in Europe and around the world,” Biden said in his public speech at the start of the summit.

The tenant of the White House has thanked the “collective leadership” of the countries of the East over the past year, thanks to which NATO has strengthened, consolidated its unity and maintained support for Ukraine since the start of the war. The Bucharest Nine are Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

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“The US commitment to NATO is absolutely clear.. Article 5 (the collective defense clause of the Atlantic Alliance) is a sacred commitment that the United States has made. We will literally defend every inch of NATO,” Biden told the leaders of the Bucharest Nine.

The President of the United States has called for continuing to strengthen NATO as a deterrent against future aggression. In his opinion, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “has changed things dramatically.” What is at stake is not only the future of kyiv, but “freedom” on the continent, he has insisted.

Biden has recalled that in his time as a senator he was one of the main defenders of the enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance to the countries of the former Soviet bloc. Already then he warned the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, that if he sought the “Finnishization” of NATO, the only thing he would achieve is the “NATOization” of Finland, as has ended up happening.

For his part, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenbergwho has also participated in the summit of the Nine in Bucharest as a guest, has thanked Biden “America’s iron commitment to the security of Europe”as well as the “unwavering” support for Ukraine shown during his visit to kyiv.

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“One year after the launch of the Russian invasion, President Putin is not preparing for peace. On the contrary, it is preparing for more war. That is why we must sustain and accelerate our support for Ukraine. We must give Ukraine what they need to win,” Stoltenberg claimed.

“We don’t know when the war will end, but when it does we must ensure that history does not repeat itself. We have seen the pattern of aggression by Russia for many years: Georgia in 2008, Crimea and Donbas in 2014 and the full invasion of Ukraine last year We cannot allow Russia to continue to dismantle European security. We must break the cycle of Russian aggression“, maintains the secretary general”.

“NATO allies have never been more united. We will protect every inch of allied territory, based on the Article 5 commitment to defend each other: one for all and all for one“, Stoltenberg concluded.

For his part, the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has indicated that Biden’s presence in Warsaw confirms “the commitment of the United States administration to the security of the Eastern flank”. Iohannis has called for redoubling support for Ukraine and guaranteeing its “Euro-Atlantic perspective”, that is, as a member of the EU and NATO.