NATO may invoke Article 5 to counter Russian hybrid operations

Russia’s aggressive hybrid operations could trigger the use of NATO Article 5, which considers an attack on one member of the Alliance to be an attack on all. This is stated in the declaration of the NATO Washington Summit, which was published on the Alliance’s official website.

The declaration at the NATO summit points to the growth of Russia’s hybrid actions, including sabotage, cyberattacks, and disinformation. NATO members emphasized that such actions pose a threat to the Alliance’s security.

NATO may invoke Article 5 to counter Russia’s hybrid actions

State and non-state actors are using increasingly aggressive hybrid actions against Allies.  We will continue to prepare for, deter, defend against, and counter hybrid threats and challenges.  We reiterate that hybrid operations against Allies could reach the level of an armed attack and could lead the North Atlantic Council to invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

P.13 in the Declaration of the NATO Washington Summit

The document notes that Russia has stepped up its aggressive hybrid actions against allies, including the use of proxy actors.

These actions include sabotage, acts of violence, provocations at NATO’s borders, the use of illegal migration, malicious cyber attacks, electronic interference, disinformation campaigns, political influence, and economic coercion.

Russia has also intensified its aggressive hybrid actions against Allies, including through proxies, in a campaign across the Euro-Atlantic area.  These include sabotage, acts of violence, provocations at Allied borders, instrumentalisation of irregular migration, malicious cyber activities, electronic interference, disinformation campaigns and malign political influence, as well as economic coercion.

P.20 in the Declaration of the NATO Washington Summit

Allies stressed that such actions pose a threat to the Alliance’s security.

What is NATO Article 5?

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty enshrines the principle of collective defense. According to the principle of collective defense, an attack on any of the Alliance’s member states is considered an attack on all of them.