Poland has activated Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after taking down Russian drones that violated its airspace on Wednesday. This incident occurred following Russia’s significant air assault on Ukraine earlier in the week, marking the first instance of a NATO member firing shots since the conflict began. While Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which declares an attack on one member as an attack on all, is more widely recognized, Article 4 is gaining increased attention.
Article 4, the briefest of the 14 articles in the NATO treaty, specifies that member countries will engage in consultations when any of them perceive a threat to the territorial integrity, political independence, or security of another member. This provision allowed Poland to request discussions with fellow NATO nations.
In response to the incursion of numerous Russian drones into Polish airspace and the subsequent interception by Polish and Dutch fighter jets, NATO allies promptly convened talks on Wednesday. These consultations took place as part of a routine gathering of NATO ambassadors at the organization’s headquarters. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk informed Parliament about the discussions held under Article 4, which established NATO in 1949 following World War II.
According to Bob Deen, an analyst at the Clingendael think-tank in The Hague, Article 4 is designed to enhance coordination and understanding among alliance members regarding external threats. It enables all allies to urgently address specific threats or developments through the North Atlantic Council.
Poland had previously invoked Article 4 during Russia’s initial hostilities towards Ukraine. The activation of this article does not automatically trigger Article 5, which is the provision that calls for collective defense in case of an attack on a NATO member. The invocation of Article 4 is not a direct precursor to military action or the implementation of Article 5, although the two articles are interconnected.
Warsaw, along with other NATO members such as Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia, had requested consultations on February 24, 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Article 4 consultations have become more frequent in recent years, although they do not always lead to invoking Article 5, as they serve different purposes within the NATO framework.