Recently, Poland- a NATO member, said that a Russian missile killed two of its citizens. Poland initially claimed that the missile was Russian-made, but later back-tracked, saying that the incident appears to be an “unfortunate accident” and not an “intentional attack.”
Key points
- In the initial reactions, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had said that the country was considering whether it should launch NATO’s Article 4 procedure.
- Any attack on Poland, a NATO member, could drag the 30-nation strong alliance into the Russia-Ukraine conflict, risking a full-fledged nuclear war.
Article 4
- Article 4 of the treaty mandates that the member nations consult each other when faced with threat.
- The article says that the Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened
- Since its creation in 1949, Article 4 has been invoked seven times. Most of these were invoked by Turkey pertaining to terror attacks and conflict in neighbouring Iraq, among other reasons.
Article 5
- Article 5 spells out the ‘one-for-all, all-for-one’ nature of the treaty.
- It reads: “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all….’
- NATO’s Article 5 is not invoked automatically, and require all member states to agree or regard the attack as one worthy of the situation.
