Under NATO’s Article 5, an armed attack against one ally is seen as an attack against all 32 members. If that ally requests or consents to a collective response, others must come to its defense, triggering a political process that can end with military action. Article 5 has only been activated once, after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the U.S.
The comments underscore growing anxiety in Europe as tensions with Russia soar amid an escalating campaign of sabotage attempts, airspace violations and cyberattacks across the continent.
Fico, seen as one of Europe’s most Kremlin-friendly leaders, has also long argued that Western countries’ approach to Russia and continued support for Ukraine risks war with Moscow.
“Sometimes there’s a tendency to mask our inability to solve problems such as illegal migration, competitiveness, and high energy prices by resorting to this bellicose talk: ‘Come on, let’s fight.’ For heaven’s sake, who do we want to fight? Who?” Fico told students at a university hospital in a ceremony marking the start of the academic year.
“Can you imagine, ladies and gentlemen, that Article 5 of the NATO treaty would be invoked?” he said. “Can anyone imagine that they would tell us: ‘Prepare 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 soldiers,’ and they will go to war somewhere? And we will not even know with whom, why and for what.”
Fico is set to join leaders including Poland’s Donald Tusk and representatives from Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Serbia and Hungary in western Ukraine on Friday for a regional economic summit dubbed the Carpathian Integration Initiative.
NATO declined to comment.