General Wieslaw Kukula, center, chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces during at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister for an extraordinary government meeting, following violations of Polish airspace during a Russian attack. in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland via AP)
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk holds an extraordinary government meeting at the chancellery, with military and emergency services officials, following violations of Polish airspace during a Russian attack in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland via AP)
NATO allies held Article 4 consultations after Russian drone incursion. Here’s what that means
BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥 NATO allies swiftly held talks Wednesday on the incursion by multiple Russian drones into Polish 鈥 and alliance 鈥 airspace and the shooting down of some of the weapons by Polish and Dutch fighter jets.
General Wieslaw Kukula, center, chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces during at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister for an extraordinary government meeting, following violations of Polish airspace during a Russian attack. in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025. (Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland via AP)
BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥 NATO allies swiftly held talks Wednesday on the incursion by multiple Russian drones into Polish 鈥 and alliance 鈥 airspace and the shooting down of some of the weapons by Polish and Dutch fighter jets.
The consultations at NATO headquarters were part of a regular meeting of ambassadors from the alliance’s 32 member states known as the North Atlantic Council, but Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told Parliament that they came under Article 4 of the treaty that founded NATO in 1949 in the aftermath of World War II.
The incident in Poland came three days after Russia鈥檚 since the war began.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Article 4 can put urgent matters on the agenda
Article 4, the shortest of the NATO treaty鈥檚 14 articles, states that: 鈥淭he Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.鈥
Bob Deen, an analyst at the Clingendael think tank in The Hague, said the article is 鈥渄esigned to promote better coordination and understanding within the alliance on external threats. It gives all allies the opportunity to urgently put certain threats or developments on the agenda of the North Atlantic Council.鈥
Article 4 is
increasingly invoked
Poland previously requested such consultations early in Russia鈥檚 war on Ukraine. They do not automatically lead to any action under of the treaty, which is NATO鈥檚 collective security guarantee, with allies pledging that an attack on one member of the alliance constitutes an attack on all.
鈥淎rticle 4 gets invoked relatively rarely but increasingly in recent years; Turkey alone invoked it five times between 2003-2020 in the context of Syria and Iraq,鈥 said Deen in emailed comments in response to questions from The Associated Press. 鈥淓ight allies invoked it in 2022 shortly after Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Poland has triggered it once in 2014 ... after Russia鈥檚 illegal annexation of Crimea.鈥
Poland first invoked Article 4 on March 3, 2014, 鈥渇ollowing increasing tensions in neighboring Ukraine, as a result of Russia鈥檚 aggressive actions,鈥 according to the NATO website. And Warsaw joined Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia in requesting consultations on Feb. 24, 2022, following Russia鈥檚 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
This doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean a step toward Article 5
Deen said that Article 4 is related to Article 5, but is 鈥渘ot necessarily a 鈥榮tepping stone.鈥欌
鈥淎rticle 5 has only been invoked once, in response to the 9/11 attacks on the United States, immediately bypassing article 4. In other words: Article 4 can be invoked without triggering Article 5, and vice versa,鈥 he said.
