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We are the closest to an armed conflict since WW2, Polish PM says.
We are the closest to an armed conflict since WW2, Polish PM says.
What is happening?
Wednesday morning, Polish airspace was violated by a number of suspected Russian drones.
According to Polish PM, Donald Tusk, 19 Russian Drones entered Polish airspace.
Closer to armed conflict
During a press conference, Tusk said;
“We are the closest to an armed conflict since World War 2”.
Wants to activate NATO Article 4
According to Reuters, Poland wants to activate NATOs Article 4 following the assault.
Note that it is not Article 5 – so what is the difference?
NATOs Article 4
Article 4 of the NATO treat is a summoning of all NATO members.
A NATO-member can activate Article 4, if it believes that it’s or another NATO-members territorial integrity, political independence or safety is under threat.
It can potentially trigger af joint decision or action from the alliance.
Used 7 times in NATO history
Article 4 has been triggered seven times.
The most recent trigger was in 2022, when a number of Eastern European countries triggered the article after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The difference from Article 5
The difference between NATOs Article 4 and Article 5 is that Article 4 is a summoning of the member states in order to discuss what is happening.
Article 5 on the other hand is the collective defence clause of the NATO treaty, meaning that an attack on one NATO-member is an attack on all NATO-members.
Still no Russian response
At the time of publishing, there has still been no official reaction from the Kremlin about what actually happened when the Russian drones enteren Polish airspace.
Belarus: Drones got lost
According to Belarus (famously known for being an ally of Russia), the drones got lost because of electronic jamming.
According to a statement on Telegram, Belarus informed both Poland and Lithuania about the situation during the night.
