Poland row: What invoking NATO’s Article 4 means

What is NATO?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation came into being after World War II as a counter to the Soviet Union’s possible expansion attempts in Europe. Then-US President Harry S Truman signed the 12-member treaty on April 4, 1949. After the collapse of USSR in 1991, several eastern European nations previously members of the Soviet Union joined NATO.

As of now, NATO comprise 30 members — Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Spain, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Croatia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership and were invited to join the collective by 28 of the 30 members, with Turkey and Hungary being notable exceptions. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia have expressed interest in joining the collective as well.

The debris, which locals claim to be that of a missile, is pictured at the site of an explosion in Przewodow, a village in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, in this photograph obtained by REUTERS on November 16, 2022.

NATO’s core duties

The NATO works on a collective defense principle and routinely undertakes exercises to strengthen their territorial, naval, and air forces. NATO members also arm themselves to face evolving methods of attacks like cybercrimes, and have participated in military operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosova, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, among others.

Article 4 of the treaty mandates that the member nations consult each other when faced with threat. “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,” it reads.

Meanwhile, 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 and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm)

The Polish incident

Before the Polish Prime Minister said that they may not have to launch NATO’s Article 4 procedure, it was feared that the missile attack could spell an escalation in Russian military plans and mark the first time that a Russian weapon crosses over to a NATO territory since the beginning of the Ukraine war.

Here’s what we know of the events.

Early on Wednesday, Polish Foreign Ministry said that a Russian-made missile killed two people in a village in southeastern Poland near the Ukraine border. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy termed it “a very significant escalation” of the war, and leaders of NATO member nations, including US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Canada PM Justin Trudeau, called an emergency meeting in Bali, Indonesia, where they were attending the G-20 summit.

Biden pledged “full US support for and assistance with Poland’s investigation”, and “reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to NATO,” but told reporters later: “It is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia, but we’ll see.”

Later, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that there is no proof that this was a Russian attack. “We have no evidence that the rocket was launched by the Russian side, there is a high probability that the rocket was used by the Ukrainian defense forces,” he said. Ukraine still makes use of Soviet-made weaponry, including missile systems.

Russia too has blamed the attack on Ukraine, with a Kremlin spokesman terming reactions to the incident as “hysterical.”

“Such a frenzied reaction shows that there is never a need to rush to judgement, with statements that can escalate the situation. Especially at such crucial moments,” said Dmitry Peskov.

Rivalry that goes way back

NATO and Russia have always been at odds with each other, since the treaty was signed to keep Russian expansionism at bay.

When NATO came into existence, Soviet Union had sought to counter this Western alliance with a defence collective of its own and signed the Warsaw Pact with Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, and Romania during the Cold War. However, this pact was gradually dissolved after the war ended and its existing member nations eventually joined the NATO.

The expansion of NATO from 12 to 30 members has been a source of tension between Russia and the West for years.

In Europe, Russia shares a border with Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Georgia. Of this, apart from Belarus and Ukraine, the others have either joined NATO or are in queue for a membership.

Russia sees the presence of Western military and nuclear bases in its neighbourhood as a threat.

Ukraine plays an important role in Russia’s economic plans as well. Its warm water ports like the Port of Sevastopol and the Port of Novorossiysk, which remain navigable year-round, unlike the Port of Vladivostok in eastern Russia, are crucial for Russian commerce. If Ukraine were to join the NATO, that would cut of Russia’s access to the Black Sea and the trading opportunities it offers.