Two people lost their lives after a rocket fell in Poland on Tuesday. – A Russian-made missile landed in Poland on Tuesday at 15:40 local time and killed two people in the village of Przewodów, says Lukasz Jasina, spokesperson for the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said on Twitter on Tuesday night that they were considering triggering NATO’s Article 4. Article 4 allows for consultations with allies if a country’s territorial integrity, political independence or security are threatened. Facts about NATO Article 4 Article 4 of the Atlantic Pact in NATO states that “the parties will consult each other whenever one of them considers that the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any party is threatened.” Use of Article 4 entails consultations. It is not automatically followed by Article 5, which establishes NATO’s principle of common defence. Article 5 has only been used once, by the United States after the terrorist attacks in 2001. Turkey has used Article 4 five times, in 2003 in the run-up to the Iraq war and three times in connection with the war in Syria – in 2012 and in 2021. Latvia, Lithuania and Poland invoked Article 4 in March 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula, as well as in 2022 in connection with the war in Ukraine. The last time it was together with Romania, Estonia, Bulgaria and Slovakia. Source: NTB Neppe article 5 Paal Sigurd Hilde, associate professor at the Norwegian Armed Forces College, says that it is important to first find out what has actually happened. If it were to be a Russian missile, Poland will have to consider what they want to do about the situation. – A possible and perhaps likely outcome is that they will go to NATO and ask for consultations under Article 4 of the treaty, Hilde tells news. Paal Sigurd Hilde, Associate Professor at the University of Defense, believes that it is unlikely that Article 5 will be triggered. Photo: Department of Defense Studies – What about Article 5? – I think it is unlikely. Article 5 will probably only be triggered if there has been a premeditated attack against Poland. And the reason I believe that is that if you trigger Article 5, then you consider that the alliance has been attacked, Poland in this case, and it will require that you take radical measures to respond, says Hilde and continues: – And if this is not a deliberate attack, then it is unlikely that you will want to put yourself in a situation where you will have to take action. I think it is far more likely that one will call for consultations and condemn what has happened in the strongest possible terms, and possibly then send reinforcements to Poland in the form of the air defense department to ensure that something like that cannot happen again. Crisis meeting on Wednesday Nato confirms that they are investigating the reports about the rocket in Poland. – We are investigating these reports and coordinating closely with our ally in Poland, NATO spokesperson Simone de Manso told news. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg writes on Twitter that he has expressed his condolences to Polish President Andrzej Duda. – NATO is monitoring the situation, and the allies are consulting closely. It is important that all the facts come to light, writes Stoltenberg. Rescue workers at the explosion in the Polish village of Przewodow. Photo: UGC / Reuters On Wednesday, the ambassadors from NATO member states will have a crisis meeting to discuss the situation in Poland. US President Joe Biden has also spoken to the President of Poland. – They and their team will keep in close contact to determine what are the appropriate next steps while this is investigated further, says the White House in a statement. Canada is also in contact with the parties, according to a spokesperson for the foreign minister. Increases military preparedness Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asks the country’s citizens to remain calm. Morawiecki states that Poland has decided to strengthen the monitoring of the country’s airspace. They also increase military preparedness. The government has also called the committee for national security and defense issues to an emergency meeting on Wednesday. Part of the cruise missiles that crashed into a Polish village, near the border with Ukraine. The image has been published by the Polish Armed Forces. Russia denies that it is behind the Russian Defense Ministry denies that it carried out the attack. – Statements by Polish media and officials that Russian rockets should have struck in the area around the village of Przewodów are a deliberate provocation to escalate the situation, the Russian Ministry of Defense says, according to the state-run Russian news agency Tass. Furthermore, the ministry denies that the photos from the crime scene show Russian weapons. – A very serious incident Duda has also been in conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who states that the two presidents shared available information and clarified the facts. Zelenskyj refers to the incident as a very serious escalation. – Today something happened that we have been warning against for a long time. Terror is not limited to our borders. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Photo: AP Norway’s Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt says they are awaiting further information from the Polish authorities. – We have recorded the news about the missile strikes in Poland. This is a very serious incident, but much is still unclear, says the foreign minister. Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt says the rocket strike in Poland is a very serious incident. Photo: Terje Pdersen / NTB EU President Charles Michel says he will call in the EU leaders at the G20 summit in Bali to a separate crisis meeting. He writes that on Twitter. He adds that he has spoken to Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, assuring him that the EU supports Poland. – We stand together with Poland – We must assess whether NATO can provide even stronger air defense protection to Poland and parts of Ukraine, says Latvia’s Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins. Urmas Reinsalu, Estonia’s foreign minister, says they are in close contact with their allies. – Estonia is ready to protect every bit of NATO territory, says Reinsalu according to Reuters. – We stand together with Poland, stresses Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. Like Poland, Hungary has called a meeting of its defense council.
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NATO investigates reports of rocket in Poland – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
