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Missile kills 2 in Poland, Russia says nothing to do with it

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Amrutha Pagad
Amrutha PagadNov 16, 2022 | 10:13

Missile kills 2 in Poland, Russia says nothing to do with it

NATO on alert as suspected Russian missile hits village in Poland. Representative Photo: Getty Images

Global tensions are on a new high as a suspected Russian missile hit NATO member country Poland on November 15. But it is not yet confirmed whether Russia launched a missile strike against Poland. This comes as the Ukraine-Russia war continues to go on.

US President Joe Biden called for an emergency meeting at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia over the incident. 

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What happened: A village in eastern Poland's Przewodow near Ukraine's border, was hit by a missile on November 15, killing two people. 

  • Poland's Foreign Ministry said that the missile was Russia-made. 
  • Poland's President Andrzej Duda was more cautious while describing the missile saying that it was "most probably Russian-made", but adding that they don't know for sure who fired it. 
  • Moscow has denied the claims that it fired the missile into Poland.

  • Warsaw also summoned the Russian envoy to explain the matter. 
  • NATO countries, Ukraine and allies are on high alert over the incident. 

The Emergency meeting:  At the G20 emergency meeting called by Biden, representatives of Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the EU were present.

  • Currently, the member countries have agreed to support Poland's investigation into the explosion and have stopped short of blaming Kremlin for it.
  • US President Joe Biden even suggested that there is a possibility that Russia did not fire the missile.
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I don't want to say that until we completely investigate it but it is unlikely in the lines of the trajectory that it was fired from Russia but we'll see... We agreed to support Poland's investigation into the explosion… And then we're going to collectively determine our next step as we investigate and proceed…
- Joe Biden

Why it isn't clear that the missile was fired from Russia: Even though the missile could be Russian-produced, it doesn't mean that it was fired from Russia or by Russia. 

  • Ukraine also maintains stocks of former Soviet and Russian-made weapons, including the S-300 air-defence missile system.
  • Also, officials have not clarified whether the missile is Russian-made or not for sure. 

The bigger picture: Poland is a member of NATO and according to Article 5 of the alliance, any attack on a NATO member country means an attack on the entire alliance and other member countries. 

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  • NATO can collectively give a military response to such threats.
  • In other words, if it is proved that Russia launched the missile strike into Poland, then it means that Moscow has attacked NATO including the US, UK and other member countries.  
  • Poland is also currently considering activating Article 4 of NATO alliance which would put the military on high alert.

  • This would be a grave escalation of global tensions with the threat of a massive war.
Last updated: November 16, 2022 | 16:02
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