What is Article 5 in NATO pact and what does it mean for Russia-Ukraine conflict?

The world watched as Russia launched an attack on Ukraine on Thursday, Feb. 24, bombing cities and bases as civilians flee the country, the Associated Press reported.

“This morning has gone down in history, but this story is completely different for our country and for Russia,” Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement. “We have severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Ukraine is defending itself and will not give up its freedom, no matter what Moscow thinks.”

President Joe Biden quickly condemned the “unjustified attack by Russian military forces” in a statement and said “the United States and our Allies and partners will be imposing severe sanctions on Russia. We will continue to provide support and assistance to Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.”

People around the world are reacting online, debating whether this could be the start of “World War III.”

Not yet, experts are saying. The key to knowing whether the U.S. will get involved in the conflict is by looking at NATO’s Article Four and Five.

What is Article Five?

Article Five is part of the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in 1949. In it, members agree that an armed attack against one of them in Europe or North America will be considered an attack against them all. They agree that each of them will assist the parties attacked by taking any action deemed necessary, including the use of armed force.

Among all of the NATO members today there are 30 members of the alliance, and they all signed on to Article Five, Stanley Sloan, an expert in transatlantic relations at Middlebury College and a former international security officer, told McClatchy News.

In a Feb. 24 statement, NATO said its “commitment to Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is iron-clad. We stand united to defend each other.”

“They all agree that an attack on one of them will be regarded as an attack on all of them and they will decide what to do to respond,” Sloan said. “And that leaves a lot of room for each ally to decide exactly how they’re going to reply.”

Additionally, “NATO’s articles allow NATO to use the militaries and the assets of the 30 NATO member states,” Sean Monaghan, a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who’s focused his career on international defense policy, including NATO, told McClatchy. “NATO requires consensus among the allies to do this.”

Why does Article 5 matter here?

Article Five only applies to NATO members, and Ukraine is not a member of NATO.

“The fact is that Article Five is certainly a potential commitment for a lot of allies to come in to help,” Sloan said. “Ukraine does not have that protection.”

Sloan said that Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the attack on Ukraine was part of a broader concept to restore former Soviet republics as part of Russia. Three NATO members — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — are all former republics of the Soviet Union.

Potential further aggression by Russia is the reason why the United States and European countries are reinforcing their posture in Europe, he said, but not yet getting involved in the conflict.

The North Atlantic Council said it condemns Russia’s attack on Ukraine, calling it “unjustified and unprovoked.” Russia’s attack is a “grave violation of international law,” NATO said, which “violates Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

At the moment, while NATO said it took defending measures to protect all Allies, the “measures are and remain preventive, proportionate and non-escalatory.”

What is the difference between Article 4 and 5?

After Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania invoked Article Four, according to CNBC.

Article Four states that members “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.”

“Article Four deals with threats,” Sloan said in explaining the difference between the two. “And Article Five deals with attacks.”

Has Article 5 ever been called? What happens if it gets invoked?

Article Five was invoked for the first time in its history after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.

While NATO military assets were deployed in 2001 to support the U.S., Article Five does not mandate any military response from its members, Sloan explained.

“It was left open that each country would make its own sovereign decision about how it would respond to an attack,” he said.

If Article Five is invoked, “It’s still up to the member states to decide what military force they want to apply in response to that,” Monaghan said. “But the sanctity and the value in Article Five is that the response will be overwhelming.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 11:53 AM with the headline "What is Article 5 in NATO pact and what does it mean for Russia-Ukraine conflict?."