NATO Reaction To Explosion In Poland Shows Member States Can Act With Impunity

 NATO's reaction to the explosion on Polish territory near the border with Ukraine shows that member states can act with impunity, Washington-based Eurasia Center Executive Vice President Earl Rasmussen told Sputnik.

On Tuesday evening, Polish media reported that two missiles had fallen on the country's territory, in the Lublin Voivodeship on the border with Ukraine. As a result of the incident, two people were reportedly killed. However, the Polish Foreign Ministry said that only one missile, allegedly Russian-made, had fallen on Poland's territory.

At the time, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Warsaw had no accurate information about the origin of the missile, but the next day he stated that it most likely belonged to Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry also said that Russian forces had launched no strikes on targets near the Ukrainian-Polish border on Tuesday, and that the released photos of the missile's debris indicated it was not Russian. According to Moscow, media reports of the alleged Russian origin of the missiles are a deliberate provocation aimed at escalating the situation around Ukraine.

"It does show that certain member states have specific privileges than others and can act with impunity. Hence, the reaction or non-action to the internal terrorist attack on the pipelines and most likely with any actions following this missile strike by Ukraine in Poland," said Rasmussen, a retired Lieutenant Colonel with over 20 years in the US Army.

Rasmussen expressed his personal opinion, that despite accusations against Russia in this incident, the West knew about the origin of the missile.

"NATO, as a result of tracking systems, most likely knew immediately that the strike inside of Poland was not a Russian missile and most likely Ukrainian. This includes officials from Poland and the Baltic States who immediately blindly started screaming for Article 4 or Article 5 actions against Russia," he said.

He also emphasized that the West, particularly mainstream media, and Ukraine will blame Russia in any case, saying that Kiev fired its defense missile because of Moscow's attack.

"The explanation is entirely unjustified and merely shows the Russo-phobic nature of current western political leadership," Rasmussen noted, adding that Russia clearly has no intent on attacking any NATO country.

On Wednesday morning, US President Joe Biden called an emergency meeting of the G7 and NATO leaders participating in the G20 summit in Bali. Based on preliminary information, the meeting concluded that the missile that fell in Poland was not fired from Russia.

The Pentagon announced its intention to rely on facts, not speculation, in examining the missile incident. Moreover, until the necessary information is received, Washington will not support invoking Article 5 of the NATO Charter, according to which an armed attack on one NATO member state is considered an attack on all, Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder said.