Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has said that Russia will continue ”to pose the biggest risk to European security and NATO states must be ready to react accordingly”. Iohannis has made the statement at the B9 Summit underway in Riga, a summit, which it chairs jointly with the presidents of Latvia and Poland. Iohannis said the states in the eastern flank, part of this format must be prepared as the dramatic regional developments are increasingly calling for thorough coordination and focus.” The head of the Romanian state has also pleaded for carrying on support for Ukraine as long as needed. ”Other vulnerable NATO partners, especially the Republic of Moldova, should get our attention and assistance to strengthen their resilience”, Iohannis went on to say. The event in Riga is also being attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The high level meeting of the states in the Bucharest 9 format also known as B9 takes place a month ahead of the NATO anniversary summit in Washington, which marks 75 years since the foundation of the alliance. Bucharest 9 includes Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the three Baltic states: namely the states in the NATO eastern flank. The group was founded upon a Romanian-Polish initiative upon the illegal annexation by Russia of the Crimean peninsula back in 2014.
