Poland, Lithuania and Latvia consider triggering NATO’s Article 4 over the Belarus border crisis
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told the Polish Press Agency on Sunday that the three countries were in talks on whether to trigger the article, which calls for consultation when “the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened.”A NATO official said last week that the military alliance was monitoring the escalating situation and that “NATO allies stand in full solidarity with Poland and other allies affected by Belarus’ instrumentalization of migrants.” The official said Belarus “bears responsibility for the crisis and the Thousands of people have been Borrell said he spoke to the Belarusian foreign minister over the weekend, telling him “the situation on the border was completely unacceptable and that humanitarian help was needed.”He said the European Union is “at the time being not talking about military” being deployed.German foreign minister Heiko Maas warned that flyover rights and landing slots could be denied to airlines that continue to transport refugees to Minsk. Maas also praised Turkey for stopping further flow of people into Belarus. “All airlines should follow the example of Turkish Airlines and others and stand against Lukashenko’s human trafficking business. There will be severe sanctions imposed on all of those who will not comply,” Maas said on Sunday.CNN’s Katharina Krebs in Moscow and Allegra Goodwin and Niamh Kennedy in London contributed reporting.
