What does article 4 say, which several NATO countries have invoked after the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s highest decision-making body, held a meeting on Thursday under article 4 of the Alliance, which is activated when one of the member countries feels threatened.

And there are NATO countries that feel especially threatened by the Russian military operation in Ukraine, which began this morning.

But what is article 4?

Article 4 of the Washington Treaty, by which NATO was established on April 4, 1949, just four years after the end of World War II, says that “the Parties (signatory states) will consult each other when, in the judgment of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened”.

“Today we have held consultations under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty. We have decided, consistent with our defensive planning to protect all Allies, to take additional steps to further strengthen deterrence and defense across the Alliance. Our measures are and will continue to be preventative, proportionate and not escalatory,” the North Atlantic Council said in a statement.

The governments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania (three Baltic countries that were part of the former Soviet Union until 1991) and Slovakia had requested the activation of Article 4 early Thursday morning.

“At today’s NATO meeting we are going to ask the alliance to launch the Article 4 consultation. The situation demands it,” Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok said this morning.

At the meeting, the allies also stressed that their commitment to NATO article 5 is “unquestionable”, according to which an attack against one country of the Alliance is equivalent to an attack against all of them, for which it is mandatory to respond. However, that principle does not apply to Ukraine, which is not part of NATO.

And what does article 5 say?

“The parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them, occurring in Europe or North America, will be considered an attack directed against all of them and, accordingly, agree that if such an attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective legitimate defense, recognized by article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties thus attacked, subsequently adopting, individually and in agreement with the other Parties, the measures it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain security in the North Atlantic region”.

But the fact that Ukraine does not belong to NATO, one of the security reasons put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin, prevents this article from being applied, as if it could have been done if it had already been admitted to the Alliance, membership which Ukraine has always regarded as a security anchor.

How many times has article 4 been invoked?

Turkey, a member of NATO since 1952, has invoked article 4 three times, the first in the Iraq war in 2003, and two others for the attacks received during the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011.

Poland invoked Article 4 during the 2014 Crimean crisis as Russian troops moved to the Polish border with Kaliningrad and Russian Baltic Sea maneuvers.

urgent NATO summit

NATO has called a summit of leaders for tomorrow in the face of the “planned” invasion of Ukraine by Russia, after several allies have expressed feeling threatened, the Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, announced on Thursday. (I)