Strengthening the combat power and military mobility of NATO is extremely important "in the context of the containment and defense policy on the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Alliance," the joint declaration of the so-called Bucharest "nine" (B9) - a group of Eastern European member states of NATO. The statement, which will be presented at the July summit of the alliance in Brussels, includes, inter alia, the conflict in Ukraine and Russia's actions "aimed at undermining the rule-based order in Europe and creating instability in the Middle East and the North Africa ".

Among the signatories to the declaration are the Presidents of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. On behalf of the Czech Republic, the document was signed by a representative of the country's parliament, DW said..

Countries of the Bucharest "nine" sign a joint declaration for the second time. For the first time this happened in November 2015 in the capital of Romania during the summit of the heads of state and government of the countries - Eastern European members of NATO. In the final document, the participants of the meeting in Bucharest appealed to the North Atlantic Alliance with a request to take additional measures to strengthen the eastern flank of the bloc due to the outbreak of the crisis in Ukraine.

Following this, at the NATO summit in 2016 in Warsaw, it was decided to deploy additional battalions in Poland and the Baltic states. According to the President of Poland Andrzej Duda, the impetus for this step was the Bucharest Declaration of 2015.

Members of the group B9 consider their main task to voice the problems of the region at the summits of the North Atlantic Alliance. Now the Eastern European member states of NATO want to further expand and strengthen the defense in the east of Europe and build up the presence of the alliance forces there. As stated in the Warsaw Declaration B9, "NATO will provide even greater assistance to Ukraine and Georgia, and will continue to provide assistance to Moldova. The NATO countries are ready for a constructive dialogue with Russia in order to clearly explain our positions and, first of all, to minimize the risks of military incidents, including through appropriate transparency measures. We continue to strive for constructive relations with Russia - when Russia's actions make this possible ".

NATO's aspiration to strengthen its Eastern European flank is extremely negatively assessed by Moscow. In the new version of the Russian military doctrine adopted in 2014, NATO's eastward expansion is still considered an external military threat to Russia.

According to the President of Romania Klaus Johannis, Euro-Atlantic relations between members of the alliance are more important than any bilateral relations. Bucharest expects NATO to strengthen protection from cyberattacks and support in the fight against terrorism in Eastern and Southern Europe.

Romania, in turn, is ready to continue to maintain defense spending at the level of two percent of GDP, as required by NATO. And the volume of defense spending in Poland even exceeds the threshold set at the Alliance summit in Newport at 2 percent of GDP for the countries of the bloc.

In the Warsaw Declaration, Heads of State and Government B9 also call for the intensification of "political dialogue and practical cooperation" between NATO and "partners in the Middle East and North Africa" ??and strengthening the Alliance's ability to predict and resolve crises. Speech, among other things, is about strengthening the presence of NATO naval and air forces in the Black Sea region, Polish President Andrzej Duda said at a joint conference with his Romanian counterpart.

Further discussion of the Warsaw Declaration is expected by the countries signatories at the upcoming July NATO summit in Brussels.