What are NATO's defence obligations under Articles 4 and 5 of its treaty?

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday he had asked NATO to open consultations under Article 4 of the alliance’s treaty after Poland shot down drones in its airspace following what he called a “large-scale provocation” by Russia.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Poland said it had downed 19 drones over its territory during a large Russian air attack on Ukraine, the first time a NATO member state is known to have fired shots in the war.

Russia’s RIA state news agency quoted a Russian diplomat as calling the accusations of an incursion “groundless” and saying Poland had not given any evidence that the drones shot down were of Russian origin.

Several European officials described the incursion as intentional and a sign of Russian escalation.

WHAT IS ARTICLE 4?

Article 4 states that members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territory, political independence or security of any of them is threatened.

Under Article 4, discussions at the North Atlantic Council – NATO’s principal political decision-making body – could potentially lead to some form of joint decision or action.

Since NATO’s creation in 1949, Article 4 has been invoked seven times, most recently in February 2022 when Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia sought consultations following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Read more: Putin ‘testing the West’, Kyiv says after drones downed over Poland

NATO ambassadors in November 2022 held an emergency meeting after a missile strike killed two people in Poland and raised global alarm that the war could spill into neighboring countries.

WHAT IS ARTICLE 5?

If Russia were determined to have attacked the territory of a member state, the focus would then shift to Article 5, the cornerstone of the founding treaty of NATO.

The alliance was created in 1949 with the U.S. military as its powerful mainstay essentially to counter the Soviet Union and its eastern bloc satellites during the Cold War.

The charter stipulates that “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.”

“They agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized 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,” it says.

HOW COULD THE UKRAINE WAR TRIGGER ARTICLE 5?

Since Ukraine is not part of NATO, Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 did not trigger Article 5, though the United States and other member states rushed to provide military and diplomatic assistance to Kyiv.

However, experts have long warned of the potential for a spillover to neighboring countries on NATO’s eastern flank that could force the alliance to respond militarily.

Such action by Russia, either intentional or accidental, has raised the risk of widening the war by drawing other countries directly into the conflict.

IS INVOKING ARTICLE 5 AUTOMATIC?

No. Following an attack on a member state, the others come together to determine whether they agree to regard it as an Article 5 situation.

There is no time limit on how long such consultations could take, and experts say the language is flexible enough to allow each member to decide how far to go in responding to armed aggression against another.

Article 5 has been activated once before – on behalf of the United States, in response to the September 11, 2001, hijacked-plane attacks on New York and Washington.