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(As delivered)
Thank you and good afternoon.
This morning the North Atlantic Council held consultations under Article 4 of the Washington Treaty. This followed a request from Estonia after their airspace was violated by three armed MIG-31 fighter jets on Friday, where NATO responded quickly and decisively.
Following the meeting, Allies issued a strong statement of solidarity and resolve. They condemned Russia’s reckless actions, which are escalatory, risk miscalculation and endanger lives. Allies affirmed yet again that our shared commitment to collective defence is unshakeable.
We do not want to see a continuation of this dangerous pattern by Russia – intentional or not. But we stand ready and willing to continue to defend every inch of Allied territory.
Our posture – on land, at sea, and in the air – is serving us well. Our pilots are doing precisely what they are trained to do when there’s a potential risk of incursion. This is what we plan for. What we train for. And it works.
General Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, has the tools and authorities he needs to ensure our defence. And Eastern Sentry – which he and I launched earlier this month – adds further strength and flexibility to our posture along our eastern flank. And anywhere else we might need it.
Allies also continue to exercise to ensure that we are ready for whatever threats we might face. Even now, the largest aircraft carrier in the world – the USS Gerald R Ford is in the neighbourhood and exercising with Allies across the continent – reinforcing our ability to operate together across domains and over distances. This long-planned defensive exercise, unrelated to current events, is highly relevant to our availability and ability to do what NATO was founded for – to deter and defend.
That is what we will continue to do. With calm determination.
And with that, I have time for a few questions.
NATO Spokesperson Allison Hart
All right, let's start with AFP, there in the second row.
Olivier Baube, AFP
Secretary General, Olivier BAUBE from AFP, Agence France-Presse, good afternoon. After what you said and after reading your statement issued by NATO today, does that mean that NATO is going now to shoot any manned or unmanned Russian aircraft which violates the Alliance airspace? Will it be enough to deter Russia? I mean the statement you just made. Do you think it will be enough to deter Russia? After this pattern we all see after three incidents.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte
Decisions on whether to engage intruding aircraft, such as firing upon them, are, of course, taken in real time, are always based on available intelligence regarding the threat posed by the aircraft, including questions we have to answer like intent, armament and potential risk to Allied forces, civilians or infrastructure. And as I said, SACEUR, our Supreme Allied Commander, has the overall prerogative and responsibility and also all the possibilities. In the latest airspace violation we discussed today in Estonia, NATO forces promptly intercepted and escorted the aircraft without escalation, as no immediate threat was assessed.
NATO Spokesperson
All right, fourth row, all the way on the end.
Niels Goedegebuur, ANP
Thank you, Mr. Secretary General, you mentioned in your statement, pilots can act in case of a potential risk of incursion. So not in case of an incursion, but potential incursion. What do you mean?
NATO Secretary General
What I'm saying is that our military system works like this, that we will always assess the dangers, whether it is a direct threat to our overall defence, our posture, and that we will always act accordingly. But in this case, there was no immediate threat assessed. So, what happened is that Swedish, Finnish, and Italian aircraft were active to make sure that these three MiGs were moved out of Estonian airspace.
NATO Spokesperson
We'll come to the centre here in the second row.
Joakim Klementi, Estonian Public Broadcasting
Hello. Joakim Klementi from Estonian Public Broadcasting. My question is, aren't we fundamentally addressing the wrong issue. As you said yourself, in both cases, in Poland and Estonia, NATO's air defence was effective. Everything worked according to plan. So why, in terms of Eastern Sentry, are we then talking about strengthening our air defence? Isn't the fundamental question about why Russia even dares to, whether intentionally or not, to breach our airspace. Shouldn't we be moving assets to the eastern flank, which pose a credible threat to Russia? I mean, we're a defensive Alliance, but for deterrence to work, they have to believe that if they cross a line, we will also counter attack. So, my question is quite simple, really, is the Alliance prepared to scare the Russians to make these things stop?
NATO Secretary General
Of course, but we always have to do that in a way that we assess the situation. And our air defences did exactly what they are designed to do, both in the case of Poland with the drones, as in the case of your country, Estonia, with these three MiGs, we reacted quickly and decisively.
We brought together, as I said in my statement about 10 days ago now, Eastern Sentry, which will help to basically strengthen even further our deterrence and defence on the eastern flank and also in other parts of NATO territory, where necessary.
And of course, as we also said in the presser here about 10 days ago, we are constantly learning and adapting our technology and our tactics based on the evolving threat landscape, and that includes drones. So, one of the reasons why we launched Eastern Sentry is to make sure that these latest drone technologies, and that long term, it is not sustainable to take down, to take down a, let's say, 1.000- or 2.000-costing drone by a half a million or a million-costing missile, so that you need your drone interceptors also at the level we want it to be is part of Eastern Sentry.
And we're working very hard to make sure that also there we learn from, for example, Ukraine, through JATEC, based in Poland, that is the joint NATO-Ukraine organisation, where we basically capture all the lessons from the war in Ukraine, but also through Pierre Vandier who is leading our Supreme Allied Command Transformation, and he works very well together, and closely together, with our Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Grynkevich, to make sure that not only do we have the deterrence and defence on the eastern flank, but we also implement as quickly as possible these latest drone technologies.
NATO Spokesperson
All right. On the right behind the cameras, please.
Ansgar Haase, dpa
Thank you. Ansgar Haase, German Press Agency, dpa. Secretary General, how do you assess the influence of previous events, such as the destruction of the North Stream pipelines on NATO's current decision making? Would it be, in your view, easier to respond, more decisively, if events like this had not have happened. Thank you.
NATO Secretary General
I don't understand the question, because when it comes, of course, to the critical undersea infrastructure in general, we launched Baltic Sentry. And Eastern Sentry, of course, is a separate activity now. Bringing together many, many Allies, but also taking all the lessons from Baltic Sentry, which was about after the latest events happening on the 25th of December last year, between Estonia and Finland, we brought together that activity.
And why? Not only to make sure that we are able to track and trace and where necessary to intervene, but also to implement the latest technologies, including undersea drones, etc, etc, including bringing together our best experts in both Mons, so SHAPE, but also our Allied Command Transformation under the leadership of Pierre Vandier and that's exactly what we are doing here with Eastern Sentry. So, we are taking lessons from that, and we are implementing this with speed.
NATO Spokesperson
Coming over to this side of, Reuters in the third row. Please.
Andrew Gray, Reuters
Thank you, Secretary General. Andrew Gray from Reuters. Are you, as part of reviewing what happened the other day, going to look again at rules of engagement, or are you confident that they are fine as they stand? And following up, a broader question, at the heart of NATO is the idea of deterrence. At the moment, it seems like deterrence is not working, because Russia is undertaking these incursions. So, do you need to do anything more in order to make your deterrence more credible?
NATO Secretary General
Well, I think what Russians saw is that we are willing, indeed, to defend every inch of Allied territory – exactly what happened in Poland when a Dutch F-35 shot down Russian drones. But also, when it comes to Estonia, where, thanks to the Finns and the Swedes and the Italians, we were able to escort these three MiGs-31 out of Estonian airspace. And our message to the Russians is clear, we will defend every inch of Allied territory. We will make sure that we can always defend and deter when necessary. We are a defensive Alliance, yes, but we are not naive, so we see what is happening and whether it is intentional or not - if it is not intentional, then it is blatantly incompetence. And of course, even if it is incompetence, we still have to defend ourselves.
NATO Spokesperson
The fourth row, the gentleman with his hand up there.
Antonio Fumagalli, Neue Zürcher Zeitung
Thank you very much. Antonio Fumagalli from Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Hi, Secretary General, a question. Is it politically wise to invoke Article 4 now, within a couple of days, twice? Because, of course, you are sending a signal to Russia, signal of nervousness, maybe. And this will be listened like this in Russia, of course. And the more practical question about the incident in Estonia, what can you tell us about the Russian fighter jets? Were they armed actually, in this moment? Thank you.
NATO Secretary General
To begin with your first question, I think these two Article 4s are both warranted, and it had to do first with the impact of the drone threat to Poland. This was a multiple amount of drones, so there was difference on some other incursions. So, I think it was totally clear that the Polish government had to invoke Article 4. I think it was very useful. And also here, when it comes to Estonia last Friday, when you look at the location and the duration of the presence of these MiGs-31 in Estonian airspace, I think it is absolutely warranted that we had this Article 4 consultation. But let me also make it very clear that our Supreme Allied Commander has all the authorities he needs, that this Alliance has all the capabilities it needs to, whenever, the Russians, whether it's intentional or not, will blatantly - be it incompetence, but at least being reckless and being irresponsible - try to invade Allied airspace, NATO airspace, then we will react. They know, and we will defend ourselves. There's no doubt.
NATO Spokesperson
The woman in the second row.
Susana Frexes, SIC Portugal
Thank you. Susana Frexes, SIC Portugal. You were mentioning a promptly response from NATO. But don't you think that 12 minutes of MiG- 31 flying around Estonian skies is too much? Was it that fast? And you say that if there's a direct threat, NATO will respond. Does it mean that in that case, you can shoot down whatever is needed, as my colleague from AFP asked? And if I may, regarding what happened in Denmark, do you see any connection with these threats in Romania, Estonia and Poland? Is there a link with what happened there?
NATO Secretary General
To your first question, we will always react with calm determination, because we have all the defensive systems in place to make sure that we can defend every inch of Allied territory. That's what we have shown, both in the Polish case as well as in the Estonian case. And I really commend the fighter jet pilots from Sweden, from Finland and, of course, from Italy in the Estonian case, but also Germany and Italy and the Dutch when it comes to the Polish situation a week ago, for acting so decisively and so quickly. But of course, to the second half of your first question, as I said before, decisions on whether to engage intruding aircraft, including potentially firing upon them, will always be assessed, based on all the elements I just mentioned. And as no immediate threat was assessed here, in this case, shooting down the MiGs was not necessary. And of course, what we will always do is to make sure that we react in a proportionate way, but, if necessary, you can be assured we will do what is necessary to defend our cities, our people, our infrastructure. But this is how it works. So, it doesn't mean that we will always immediately shoot down a plane. We will, as I said, based on clear dimensions, assess the situation real-time based on all the available intelligence. And that's exactly what happened here. To your second question, I was just on the phone with the Danish Prime Minister. Of course, there's talk now of four big drones who create - three big drones creating big difficulties in Danish airspace, including the capital’s airport, and the Danes are at this moment exactly assessing what happened, to make sure of what is behind this. We are in very close contact on this, so it is too early to say to answer your second question.
NATO Spokesperson
All right, we have time for just a few more questions, and I know we have more than we'll have time to get to. Teri, please. Third row. Wait for the mic. Thanks.
Teri Schulz, DW
Teri Schultz, with DW. Just a couple follow ups, because if you leave me too late, I get to follow up all of these questions.
NATO Secretary General
That’s a warning.
Teri Schulz, DW
Exactly. I mean, you say that the system is working, but wouldn't you rather deter these flights from coming in? So, wouldn't it work better if they never entered NATO airspace, if that's working? And how much pressure does it put on NATO, now that Poland has said, ‘You know what, we are going to shoot these down’? Does that make the rest of the eastern flank, where NATO might not make the same decision in its own Eastern Sentry mission to do that? Doesn't that perhaps make some of the other allies a bit more vulnerable if this kind of behaviour is going to continue? And are you sure that's all you can say about Copenhagen? Thank you.
NATO Secretary General
Yes, on the second question, yes. And on your first question, I listened very carefully to Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister yesterday, and I think what he said is that, ‘if necessary, yes, we will shoot down a plane - and of course, we already shot down a drone’. If necessary. And this exactly comes back to what I just mentioned, that we will always assess the situation, assess the immediate threat the plane poses, and acting quickly and decisively is exactly what happened in these two cases, and I'm really proud of our fighter jet pilots doing this, and our Commanders in contact with them, coordinating all these activities. Clearly, what the Russians are doing is not acceptable. If it is intentional or not, at least it is reckless, and it should stop, absolutely. And what they will see now, over the last couple of weeks, is that whatever happens, we are there, and it will not, as you have seen in the NAC statement, detract us from supporting Ukraine, if that is what they might be thinking they could achieve. I don't know what is in their minds. If it was intentional again, we are still assessing that, we will also keep on supporting Ukraine with even more vigour and more determination.
NATO Spokesperson
Okay, fourth row, Thomas.
Thomas Gutschker, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Thanks for the question. Thomas Gutschker, with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Good afternoon. There was also Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who, yesterday night at the UN Security Council, warned Russia that Poland would shoot down any aircraft or missile entering - I quote now - ‘our space without permission, deliberately or by mistake’, which is in clear contradiction to what you just said about intentional and non-intentional patterns of behaviour. Can you please clarify, does Poland have the right to do this on their own, or are they bound by common rules of engagement for all NATO Allies? Thank you.
NATO Secretary General
I just commented on the Polish Prime Minister, and I would like to leave it at that, because I cannot comment on every official in NATO territory, because there are so many. Thank you so much.
Thomas Gutschker, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
By the way, the Polish Prime Minister did not say ‘if necessary’. ‘There may be incidents which are not clear’, but he did not say ‘if necessary’.
NATO Secretary General
No, I'm not saying that he literally said that. But we all agree that when there is an incursion, when that takes place, we have to act decisively and quickly, exactly as we have done in the Polish case, in the Estonian case and every other case in Latvia, Lithuania, in Norway and Finland. We always act decisively and quickly, and always assess the threat levels and make sure that if there is immediate threat, of course, we will not hesitate to do what is necessary to protect our cities, our people, our infrastructure.
NATO Spokesperson
Okay, final question, we'll go to the end here, fourth row. Yes.
Karin Axelsson, Politiken Denmark
Hi. Karin Axelsson from Politiken Denmark. You said you didn't want to comment on the Danish incident, so let's call it the Danish-Norwegian incident. Is NATO, as you said, ready to act decisively on incidents like this, what happened in Copenhagen and in Oslo? And we're having two big summits next week in Copenhagen. What can we do? I mean, is a drone wall enough to deter these kinds of incidents, whoever was behind it? Or do we need to step up with more action in NATO as well, as well as EU things?
NATO Secretary General
Yeah, well, first of all, as I said, I spoke with the Danish Prime Minister, and of course, also Denmark is still assessing what exactly happened and whether they can find out more. And of course, we will help wherever we can, and all our Allies will be involved in that, as is always the case when these serious incidents happen. To your more general question, also about next week's meetings in Copenhagen, I think of the European Council and of the European Political Community, but also more generally, when it comes to defending our airspace, of NATO, as I said - and I think the Estonian and Polish case are proof of this - we will act decisively and quickly. We have. The system worked. SACEUR has all the authorities he needs in a trickle-down way to make sure that the Commanders on the ground know what they need to do, and if necessary, to also take the ultimate decision, but only when there is an assessment that that is necessary. And that is what I meant with making sure that we always will work and act with calm determination. And that's what the Russians know. And the Russians know also that, if necessary, we will not hesitate.
Thank you so much for coming here and for waiting a little bit longer, because the meeting was very good, but it took also a bit longer. Thank you so much.
NATO Spokesperson
Thank you all.