What is Article 4 of the NATO treaty?
RUSSIA'S invasion of Ukraine resulted in a summit between the nations affiliated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Article 4 of the NATO treaty is utilized whenever one of the allies such as Poland, the UK, or the US is considering entry into a war.
What is Article 4 of NATO treaty?
it states that Article 4 means: "The 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.
"All NATO decisions are made by consensus, after discussion and consultation among member countries.
"Consultation between member states is therefore at the heart of NATO since Allies are able to exchange views and information, and discuss issues prior to reaching agreement and taking action.
"It also gives NATO an active role in preventive diplomacy by providing the means to help avoid military conflict."
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This means that if any of the NATO members feel their security is under threat they can ask all other allies to consult on that risk.
In this case, if some of the members feel threatened by the actions of Russia, they can request that the other NATO members discuss that risk.
This could then lead to Article 5 being triggered and all NATO allied countries going to war with Russia, or any other threatening country.
Article 4 relates to any issue of concern and allows an open discussion on the topic.
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When was Article 4 of the NATO treaty invoked?
In response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, some NATO members have requested Article 4 discussions.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are all triggering Article 4, meaning all 30 allies will discuss the Russian war and it's potential impact on NATO members.
In the past Article 4 has been used six times - four of which have been by Turkey.
The Iraq War was the first instance of the article being triggered by Turkey.
It was used again in June 2012, October 2012, and February 2020 due to ongoing problems with Syria.
Latvia previously used Article 4 in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
More recently, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland all evoked Article 4 over migrants entering the EU via Belarus.
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What does Article 4 mean for the UK?
Article 4 does not mean the UK must take military action against Russia.
It means the UK must enter discussions about the risk of attack posed to the NATO members by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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If the majority of members deem there to be a significant cause for concern then they might trigger Article 5.
In that case, the UK must aid all other NATO members in the fight against Russia or risk breaking the alliance.