The United States will host a NATO summit next year to mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance, President Biden announced in a Tuesday speech from Warsaw.
Biden, in remarks from the Polish capital, said he would host every member of the alliance next year to celebrate “the strongest defensive alliance in the history of the world.”
“And let there be no doubt. The commitment of the United States to our NATO alliance and Article Five is rock solid,” Biden said to applause. “And every member of NATO knows it, and Russia knows it as well. An attack against one is an attack against all. It’s a sacred oath.”
The NATO alliance, which was formed after World War II, has taken on outsized importance over the past year in the aftermath of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. While Ukraine itself is not a member of the alliance, several neighboring countries are, including Poland.
Biden and other NATO leaders have vowed that any Russian attack on a NATO member would trigger Article Five, which states that an attack on one member nation is considered an attack on the entire alliance. Other leaders in the alliance have increased defense spending domestically over the past year.
Since Russia invaded, NATO has even voted to add two additional members: Finland and Sweden.
“He thought he’d get the ‘Finlandization’ of NATO,” Biden said of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. “Instead, he got the ‘NATOization’ of Finland. And Sweden.”
Biden on Wednesday is expected to meet with leaders from the Bucharest Nine, which is made up of countries on NATO’s eastern flank: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.