DISINFO: NATO is not planning to defend Poland and the Baltic states
SUMMARY
Poland buys American weapons and tanks for an alleged strengthening of its defence potential against the “Russian bear” preparing an immediate attack. This childish fairy tale justifies the stupidest expenses in the history of the contemporary Polish state. Even the military acknowledges the fact that no modernisation can significantly improve the defence capacities of the Polish Army in a hypothetical clash with Russia – the military simulations show that Poland will be defeated within five days.
This fact is also known to the NATO command, which does not take into consideration the defence of Central and Eastern Europe in the situation of a conflict. Therefore, such countries as Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia would stay on their own – they would quickly surrender and negotiate the most favourable conditions for capitulation.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative on NATO and the US military presence in Europe - it claims that the United States may not protect its European allies if it goes against the US national interests.
The ongoing modernisation of the Polish Army and purchases of advanced military equipment is a Polish response to the current security crisis taking place in Eastern Europe – this situation is a result of the Russian annexation of Crimea and military aggression against Ukraine in Donbas.
The claim that NATO is not planning to defend its Eastern and Central European members is ungrounded.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is the critical component of the Alliance – it assumes that if a NATO Ally is a victim of an armed attack, every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked. In other words, Article 5 is the cornerstone of NATO – it has been invoked only once in history as a response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The United States is the founding member of NATO and plays a crucial role in European and transatlantic security – since the end of WWII, the US troops based in Europe guaranteed the security of its European allies.
NATO has enhanced its forward presence in the eastern part of the Alliance, with four multinational battalion-size battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, on a rotational basis. These battlegroups, led by the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and the United States respectively, make clear that an attack on one Ally would be considered an attack on the whole Alliance.
Read similar disinformation cases: the US always abandons its allies, Poland and the Baltic states do not fully believe in NATO and Article 5 as they demand additional security guarantees and US troops will not defend Poland in case of a Russian attack.