The presidents of NATO's Eastern flank nations convened in Riga for a summit aimed at addressing regional security concerns and Russia's ongoing conflict in Ukraine. However, the gathering of the so-called "Bucharest Nine" - B9 - concluded without a unified declaration for the first time, as Bulgarian President Rumen Radev disclosed.

Radev revealed that the absence of a joint declaration stemmed from the lack of consensus among participants regarding the strategies to resolve Russian aggression in Ukraine. This divergence of views led to the exclusion of Radev's name from the declaration, with only Poland, Romania, and Latvia issuing a statement as co-chairs and host, respectively.

The B9 summit saw the participation of presidents from Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. The forum precedes the upcoming NATO summit scheduled to take place in Washington in a month's time.