The leaders of the Eastern flank of NATO will discuss hybrid threats
KIEV. 28 Feb. UNN. The summit of heads of state in Bucharest nine (B9) will be held today in the Slovak town of Kosice. One of the main objectives of the meeting of leaders of the Eastern flank is the celebration of the 70th anniversary of NATO, reports UNN with psilander the Polish radio.
“The summit will be an opportunity for stocktaking and exchange of views about the future. The discussion will touch on the security situation in the region, in particular the enhancement of regional defence capabilities and deterrence by expanding the presence of American troops on the territory of Poland” – said the head of the Cabinet of the President of Poland Krzysztof Mersky.
According to him, among the topics that will be discussed the leaders of the Bucharest nines, there are also issues of threats from the East, in particular hybrid threats, including cyber space, and misinformation.
In the meeting in Kosice, will also be attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Bucharest nine are countries of the Eastern flank of the Alliance: Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. In November 2015, during the summit in Bucharest, these States signed a joint Declaration in which stated that will work together to ensure, where necessary, a “strong, credible, balanced military presence,” NATO in the region.
The office of the President of Slovakia said that the main purpose of the summit is the celebration of the 70th anniversary of NATO and the 15-th and 20-th anniversary of the accession of the B9 in the Alliance (in 1999 it joined NATO, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania and Slovakia in 2004).
The organizers of the summit announced the opening of the monument dedicated to the meeting of the presidents of the B9 and the 70th anniversary of the founding of NATO. At the end of the meeting, the politicians will adopt a Declaration with the overall group position on key issues and future areas of cooperation.
Recall, NATO said that the militarization of Crimea, the Black and Azov seas threatens the independence of Ukraine.