Romania’s foreign minister on Friday called Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty “an instrument that Romania can use” after a drone, which officials said was Russian, crashed into an apartment building in the country.
Article 4, which allows a NATO member to open formal discussions about threats to its security, has come under renewed focus since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, especially in the wake of multiple incursions by Russian drones and jets into NATO countries’ airspace.
Oana Toiu, Romania’s foreign minister, said in a television interview that the Friday drone crash “falls into the category of incidents that justify the use of instruments” like Article 4.
NATO on Friday blamed “Russia’s recklessness” for the drone crash, which comes amid heightened fears that Russia might seek to expand the war beyond Ukraine to target a NATO country — and that NATO might be forced to respond. Ukraine is not a member of the alliance, but Romania is.
Here’s what to know about NATO and Article 4.
What is NATO?
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a mutual-defense alliance created after World War II by the United States, Canada and 10 European countries. Its core provision, Article 5, requires members to treat an attack on one of them as an attack on all. When NATO was created, Article 5 put Western Europe under U.S. protection as the Soviet Union was cementing its dominance over Central and Eastern Europe.
Since NATO was founded, 20 more European states have joined: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Turkey, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. There are a total of 32 members.
NATO has invoked Article 5 only once in its history, the day after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001. That led to NATO’s participation in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, where the alliance maintained a presence from 2003 to 2021.
What is Article 4?
Article 4 allows a member state to start a formal discussion among the allies about threats to its security. Invoking Article 4 does not commit NATO to military action, but it is a required step toward a NATO decision to invoke Article 5.
An invocation of Article 5 is often assumed to have military implications, but the NATO treaty says only that its members will “assist” the party that has been attacked. That can also mean economic or political help.
Article 4 states that the alliance’s 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.”
Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said on social media after the Friday drone crash that “we stand with” Romania and “condemn this reckless incursion on its territory.”
Will Romania invoke it?
The Romanian authorities said on Friday that Article 4 was in their toolbox as they weighed a response to the drone crash, on the roof of a residential compound in the city of Galati, a major river port. But they stopped short of saying they would invoke it.
“Obviously, invoking Article 4 is a joint decision,” Ms. Toiu, the foreign minister, said. “It is part of the discussions regarding the possibilities we have at this moment.”
Romania’s president, Nicusor Dan, said he had convened the national defense council and would “order proportionate measures in relation to the Russian Federation.” But he did not elaborate.
“The unprecedented nature of the event demands a firm, coordinated, and appropriate response,” he wrote on social media, adding, “Romania is a NATO member state and will not accept, in any way, the war of aggression waged by Russia against Ukraine to be transferred onto its citizens.”
Has Article 4 been invoked before?
Since NATO’s founding in 1949, Article 4 has been invoked nine times, including on Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Poland invoked the article in September after NATO fighter jets shot down Russian drones that had entered its airspace. Russian drones had crossed into Poland before, but it was the first time they had been shot down over the territory of a NATO country.
NATO decided to step up its defenses after that incident, including by increasing air patrols and mobilizing ground-based interceptor systems — showing how easily the war in Ukraine could spill across borders.
Estonia invoked Article 4 later that month, after three Russian fighter jets violated its airspace.
“NATO stands ready to defend every inch of allied territory,” Mark Rutte, the NATO secretary general, said in a statement on Friday after the drone crash in Romania. “We will continue to enhance our readiness to deter and defend against any threat, including from drones.”
Lara Jakes contributed reporting.
