Who Are B9 Countries? – Burning Issues – Free PDF Download

• The envoys to India of nine Eastern European countries jointly wrote an article in The Indian Express on March 25 to “acquaint the Indian public with the basic facts on the ground” about the “premeditated, unprovoked and unjustified Russian aggression in Ukraine”.

Who are the Bucharest Nine?

• The B 9 is a group of nine NATO countries in Eastern Europe that became part of the US-led military alliance after the end of the Cold War.
• The B 9 or Bucharest Format, often abbreviated as the B9, was founded on November 4, 2015.

• It takes its name from Bucharest, the capital of Romania.
• B9, it is also regarded as the “voice of the Eastern Flank” in the NATO alliance.
• The group was created on the initiative of Klaus Iohannis, who has been President of Romania and Andrzej Duda, who became President of Poland in August 2015, at the High-Level Meeting of the States from Central and Eastern Europe in Bucharest.
• The group was created on the initiative of Klaus Iohannis, who has been President of Romania since 2014, and Andrzej Duda, who became President of Poland in 2015.
• The B9 offers a platform for deepening the dialogue and consultation among the participant allied states in compliance with the principles of solidarity and indivisibility of the security of the NATO Member States.
• The members of B9 are Romania and Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

• Romania, Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria are former signatories of the now dissolved Warsaw Pact military alliance led by the USSR whereas Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were part of the former USSR.
• All members of the B9 are part of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Opposition to Putin

• The B9 countries have been critical of President Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine since 2014, when the war in the Donbas started and Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.
• After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the B9 met in Warsaw, and their meeting was joined by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission.
• On February 25, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on Twitter: “…Appealed to the Bucharest Nine for defense aid, sanctions, pressure on the aggressor. Together we have to put at the negotiating table. We need anti-war coalition.”

What is the Three Seas Initiative?

• The 3SI is a regional effort in Europe to expand cross-border energy, transportation, and digital infrastructure and boost economic development in the area between the Adriatic Sea, Baltic Sea, and Black Sea.
• Twelve countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia), all of which are members of the EU, participate in the 3SI.

Why was B9 formed?

• Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. The B9 was formed condemning the annexation. The B9 members were either a part of Soviet Union before its disintegration or a sphere of influence.
• The B9 has proposed to extend the organisation eastward. It wants to include Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. Ukraine is of great importance to US, EU and B9 because it is the buffer between the western world and Russia.

Question:
Which of the following is the capital of Romania?

1. Moscow
2. Minsk
3. Bucharest
4. Baku

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