A Russian air strike or missile attack on a European weapons manufacturing plant should lead to the invocation of Article 5 of the NATO Treaty on collective defence.
This was stated by EU Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius, Politico reports.
The statement comes amid a growing number of suspicious incidents at defence enterprises across Europe, some of which are being linked to Russia. Estonia, in particular, said Russian intelligence services were behind the arson attack on Milrem Robotics last month. Similar cases are also being investigated in Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia.
Kubilius’s remarks were a response to a statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. She warned that arms factories in European countries producing weapons for Ukraine are potential military targets for Russia.
At the same time, NATO diplomats reacted cautiously to the commissioner’s words. One Alliance official recalled that Article 5 is deliberately left vague so as not to reveal plans to adversaries.