Poland is discussing with Lithuania and Latvia the possibility of triggering a mechanism of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) used in situations of security threats to try to contain the crisis on the border with Belarus.
Poland’s Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak warned on Wednesday that the crisis on the Belarus border could go on for months and said migrants “attacked the Polish border” overnight.
On Tuesday, security agents in Poland used pepper spray and water jets against people trying to cross the border in hopes of seeking asylum in the European Union.
Thousands of migrants, mostly from Middle Eastern countries, remain camped in Belarus, close to the Polish border. Western countries accuse Belarus dictator Aleksander Lukashenko of exploiting refugees and causing the crisis, with the aim of destabilizing the European Union and fighting back sanctions imposed on his regime. The West also criticizes Russia’s support for Minsk, which denies all charges.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday that NATO should take “concrete steps” to resolve the migration crisis. “It is not enough for us to just publicly express our concern. Now we need concrete steps and the commitment of the entire alliance,” he said.
Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks confirmed on Tuesday that his country is now “one step away from invoking Article 4 of NATO” because of the situation, which also affects the borders of Lithuania and Latvia.
Pabriks said in an interview with local radio that the countries have agreed to support each other should neither of them decide to start consultations under Article 4. He said the three countries have not yet made the decision because they believe the situation is still in progress, and who await “the continuation of the behavior of representatives of Belarus and Russia”.
Last week, Lukashenko said Belarus wants to use Russian missile systems with nuclear capabilities to deploy them across borders with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to the west and Ukraine to the south. In an interview with a Russian defense publication, the dictator said he needed the Iskander mobile ballistic missile system, which has a range of 500 km.
What is NATO Article 4
O article 4 NATO’s founding treaty states that any member of the mutual defense alliance may raise an issue to the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s main decision-making body, for discussion among allies.
The article states:
“The parties will consult together when, in the opinion of either party, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of either party is threatened.”
Once the article is invoked, the issue is discussed and may lead to some form of decision or joint action. All NATO decisions must be taken by consensus among its 30 member countries.
Since the creation of NATO in 1949, Article 4 has been invoked six times. More recently, in February 2020, Turkey requested consultations regarding the conflict in Syria after events in which Turkish soldiers lost their lives.
Turkey has already invoked the article on four other occasions, two of them also related to the conflict in Syria; one in 2003, due to the Iraq war; and in 2015, after bomb attacks that left 98 dead.
Poland applied for the mechanism in March 2014 after tensions escalated in neighboring Ukraine as a result of Russia’s offensive.
Invoking Article 4 can lead to actions such as deploying defense systems to help protect threatened territories.
Suspected Kremlin “Smoke Screen”
In Europe, there is a suspicion that the crisis on the Belarus border was engineered to divert attention from the increase in Russian forces on the Russian-Ukrainian border.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis spoke about this possibility. “It is very likely that Ukraine could be attacked while we are dealing with the Belarus, Poland and Lithuania border situation.”
#Poland #invoke #NATO #emergency #measure #border #crisis