A number of intellectuals and former policy makers of Central and Eastern European countries wrote an open letter to President Barack Obama in mid-July in which they called upon the US president to show more American commitment to the region’s security.

The letter, whose Polish signatories included former Presidents Lech Wałęsa and Aleksander Kwaśniewski and former Foreign Ministers Adam Rotfeld and Janusz Onyszkiewicz, expressed the leaders’ apprehensions about what they see as Russia’s continued intimidation of the region’s countries.

“Our hopes that relations with Russia would improve and that Moscow would finally fully accept our complete sovereignty and independence after joining NATO and the EU have not been fulfilled,” said the letter.

The letter’s authors urged President Obama to cooperate with the EU on issues pertaining to the energy and military security through supporting, among other things, the Nabucco gas pipeline project as well as deploying elements of the missile shield program in Poland and the Czech Republic.

“Abandoning the program entirely or involving Russia too deeply in it without consulting Poland or the Czech Republic can undermine the credibility of the United States across the whole region,” the letter said.