At NATO allies summit, Latvia touts coordinated Ukraine approach

NATO’s eastern flank leaders will have a more coordinated approach towards supporting Ukraine after the Hungarian president stayed away from their summit in Riga, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said on Tuesday.
The split emphasizes diverging approaches to Russia and Ukraine among central European nations, amid Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s continued close ties to Russia and refusal to give arms to Ukraine.
Rinkevics said Hungary’s President Tamas Sulyok cancelled his trip to the summit of the Bucharest Nine, a group of European countries on the eastern edge of NATO, at the weekend.
“The most important thing is that we have a more coordinated approach to the (NATO) Washington summit, when it comes to support for Ukraine, when it comes to strengthening the alliance’s capabilities”, Rinkevics said ahead of the meeting.
Sulyok’s office did not respond to a request for comment.