President Novák shakes hands with US President Biden at B9 meeting

President of the Republic of Hungary, Katalin Novák shook hands with US President Joe Biden at the Bucharest Nine Summit, Novák said in a Twitter post, captioning the picture: “I stressed the importance of achieving peace as soon as possible and that the Hungarian people advocate for a quick peace.”

It was known in advance that Katalin Novák would represent Hungary at US President Biden's meeting with the leaders of the Bucharest Nine in Warsaw.

At a press conference last week, Novák was asked about the trip to Warsaw. According to MTI, she said she planned to attend the summit and brief US President Joe Biden on the war in Ukraine and the need for peace as soon as possible. She now seems to have delivered on that promise.

In addition to Hungary, the Bucharest Nine (or B9) include Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

At the beginning of Wednesday's meeting, US President Joe Biden stated that along with NATO, the Bucharest Nine "stand for the defence of democratic freedom around the world" and will continue to support Ukraine as they have done so far. He said it was "absolutely clear that the US will defend every inch of NATO." The Hungarian State News Agency, MTI reports that addressing the representatives of the participating countries,

the US President called Article 5 on collective defense sacred and inviolable, a commitment to all nations, all NATO member states.