The article reveals the challenges for cooperation of the participating states in the Bucharest Nine initiatives in the conditions of the evolution of security threats on NATO’s eastern borders. The preconditions, purpose and goals of the Bucharest Nine have been highlighted. The group composition of B9 participants on a territorial basis has been considered, namely: the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), the Visegrad Four countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic), and the Black Sea countries (Bulgaria and Romania). The organizational structure of such a regional format within NATO has been represented. The goals of the Bucharest Nine have been concretized both in the Euro-Atlantic dimension and in the regional one, especially in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The focus is on the resilience and solidarity of B9 member states in their approaches to guaranteeing the European security architecture, including increasing defense spending and its dynamics, supporting Ukraine and its territorial integrity, as well as assessing threats from the russian federation. The current challenges for the development of the B9 initiative have been highlighted, the key ones being: restrained attitude towards the russian policy in the CEE region; various preconditions for action to increase military capabilities; the position of some Western NATO member states on B9 as a pro-American project, etc. It has been concluded that it is expedient to establish B9 format initiatives within NATO in order to “strengthen the voice” of less powerful states in the conditions of transforming the security architecture in the global dimension, mainly in the context of growing military threat from the russian federation in the CEE region.
360°-NATO: Mobilization on all Fronts / ed. by Sabine Lösing (2017). Information on Politics and Society. MEP, № 12, 76.
Banasik, M. (2021). Bucharest Nine in the process of strategic deterrence on NATO's eastern flank. The Copernicus Journal of Political Studies, No. 1, 27-53. Retrieved from https://apcz.umk.pl/CJPS/article/view/36524/30782. http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/CJPS.2021.002
Calmels, C. (2019). "NATO Enlargement to the East: Bucharest Nine as a Game-Changer within the Alliance" presented at the NATO: Past and Present, King's college. Retrieved from https://spire.sciencespo.fr/hdl:/2441/678kia9i63943989fk4pgn1ahr/resources/2019-12-calmels-bucharest-nine-communication-kings-college.pdf
Current state and prospects for development and transformation of the North Atlantic Alliance. [In Ukrainian]. (2021). National Institute for Strategic Studies. Center for Foreign Policy Studies, 20. Retrieved from https://niss.gov.ua/sites/default/files/2021-09/nato.pdf
Herasymchuk, S. (2019). Bucharest Nine: Looking for Cooperation on NATO's Eastern Flank? [In Ukrainian]. Kyiv: Ukrainian Prism. Retrieved from https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ukraine/15575.pdf
Joint Declaration on "Allied Solidarity and Shared Responsibility", November 2015 Bucharest. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.lrp.lt/data/public/uploads/2015/11/jointdeclaration.pdf
NATO-2030.United for a new era. (2020). Analyses and recommendations of the reflection Group Appointed by the NATO Secretary General. Retrieved from https://www.nato.int/ nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2020/12/pdf/201201-Reflection-Group-Final-Report-Uni.pdf
On the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of September 14, 2020 "On the National Security Strategy of Ukraine": Decree of the President of Ukraine №392 /2020 of 14.09.2020. [In Ukrainian]. Retrieved from https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/3922020-35037
Pawłowskі, К. (2020). Bukareszteńska Dziewiątka: współpraca państw wschodniej flanki NATO. Instytut Europy Środkowej, Policy Papers, № 4, 38.
Shlapak, D. A. & Johnson, M. (2016). Reinforcing Deterrence on NATO's Eastern Flank: Wargaming the Defense of the Baltics. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1253.html https://doi.org/10.7249/RR1253
Terlikowski, M., Jóźwiak, V., Ogrodnik, Ł., Pieńkowski, J. & Raś, K. (2018). The Bucharest 9: Delivering on the Promise to Become the Voice of the Eastern Flank. PISM Policy Paper, 4(164). Retrieved from https://pism.pl/upload/images/artykuly/legacy/files/24501.pdf
The Bucharest Nine discussed Russian aggression at the summit. [In Ukrainian]. (2021). Slovo i Dilo. Retrieved from https://www.slovoidilo.ua/2021/05/10/novyna/svit/buxarestska-devyatka-samiti-obhovoryla-rosijsku-ahresiyu
The Military Balance - 2021 : Аnnual Аssessment. International Institute for Strategic Studies. Retrieved from https://www.iiss.org/publications/the-military-balance
Toucas, B. (2017). Russia's Design in The Black Sea: Extending the Buffer Zone. Center for Strategic and International Studies. Retrieved from https://www.csis.org/analysis/russias-design-black-sea-extending-buffer-zone