Biden to join eastern European NATO states summit, focus seen on Ukraine

[May 10, 2021]  BUCHAREST (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will join a virtual summit of eastern European NATO states held in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Monday, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said, with a focus on security in the Black Sea region and Ukraine.

The summit of the Bucharest Nine, a group of European countries on the eastern edge of NATO, will be jointly hosted by Iohannis and Poland's President Andrzej Duda and aims at coordinating the security positions of countries in the region.

"Glad to welcome Joe Biden to the Bucharest9 Summit which I host in Bucharest today," Iohannis said on his Twitter account.

"Together with President Andrzej Duda we'll also welcome ... Jens Stoltenberg in preparation of NATO Summit, focusing on Transatlantic ties, NATO 2030, defence and deterrence on the eastern flank."

Biden, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the presidents of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia will video-conference into the gathering.

"In ... the statement that the nine will publish after the meeting there will be the issue of security in the Black Sea region and the related security issues in Ukraine," the head of Poland's National Security Bureau, Pawel Soloch, told reporters.

President Joe Biden waves before boarding the Marine One helicopter for a planned weekend at Camp David, from the Ellipse at the White House in Washington, U.S., May 7, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Earlier this month, Washington said it could increase security help for Kyiv after Russia moved troops near its border with Ukraine's eastern Donbass region, where Ukrainian troops are in conflict with Moscow-backed separatists.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest and Alan Charlish in Warsaw; Editing by Gareth Jones)

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