NATO Article 5 is binding and very practical: President Duda in Czech Rep

NATO's Article 5 is not theoretical, but binding and very practical, President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday in the Czech Republic, where he met his outgoing counterpart Miloš Zeman, who has completed ten years in office.

The leaders were asked how the unity of NATO allies is being affected by such statements, like the one by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev saying“delivering weapons to Kyiv means putting out a fire with gasoline” and that of Czech presidential candidate Andrej Babiš, who earlier this week said he wouldn't send Czech soldiers in help if Poland or the Baltic states ended up being attacked.

Zeman said he naturally saw it as absolutely obvious that in the event that Russia attacked Poland, or the Baltic states or any other NATO member, the Czechs would be obliged and even willing to help.

“In the Czech Republic… also in Bulgaria, there is an election campaign… and some statements, which can also be taken out of context, can act as an explosive charge,” he said.

“Please do not take some unfortunate and ill-considered statements too seriously,” he told Andrzej Duda.

The Polish president emphasised that NATO Article 5 is “very practical, hard-headed… binding and practical.

The article states: “The parties agree that an armed attack on one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against all of them.”

It was invoked by the U.S. after the September 11, 2001, attack, that gave rise to the War on Terror and the U.S. incursion, along with other NATO members, into Iraq and Afghanistan.