In accordance with Article 4 of the Washington Treaty, any NATO member may request consultations with the other Member States if it considers that its territorial integrity, political independence or security are at risk.
Pabriks explained that Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia have agreed: if one of the countries wants to start consultations under this article, the others will join the initiative and the application will be submitted jointly by all three countries.
“We will be united in this requirement, but until yesterday evening this desire was not expressed in any country, because we do not want to take advantage of these opportunities to involve NATO. We are awaiting the continued behavior of the representatives of Belarus and Russia,” the Minister for Defense said.
All three countries shall also understand the seriousness of Article 4. Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are still waiting because they believe that the situation is still in progress, but the situation may be changing rapidly.
“The situation can change every hour and then we can also call for [use] of Article 4,” Pabriks said.
