US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, ruled out, on Wednesday, that Russia had launched a missile towards Poland.
“It is not likely that the missile was Russian,” Biden said after world leaders who were meeting for the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, held an emergency meeting on Wednesday to discuss explosions in Poland that killed two people.
The leaders of the United States, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom participated in the meeting.
With the exception of Japan, all of these countries are members of NATO, which also includes Poland.
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He explained that “NATO” countries are investigating the explosion in Poland, but preliminary information indicates that it may not have been caused by a missile fired from Russia.
In response to a question about allegations that the explosion was linked to Russia, Biden said: “There is preliminary information that contradicts that. I do not want to say that until we fully investigate the matter, but it is unlikely that it was launched from Russia due to its trajectory, but we will see.”
He pointed out that the “NATO” countries agreed to support Poland’s investigation into the explosion that occurred in the Polish countryside, near the Ukrainian border, to find out exactly what happened.
He continued, “And then we will collectively determine our next step as we investigate and move forward. There was complete consensus among everyone at the table.”
The White House said Biden called the meeting after two people were killed in an explosion in the village of Przewodau in eastern Poland, near the Ukrainian border.
Erdogan: Russia had no hand in the bombing
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that he respects Moscow’s statement that no Russian missiles were launched on Polish soil, adding that he believes Moscow “had no hand in this.”
Erdogan added in a press conference during the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia: “Russia said it had no hand in this, and (US President Joe) Biden said that the missiles are not Russian-made, which shows that Russia has nothing to do with the matter.”
He added that an investigation was needed and that he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin when he returns to Turkey.
NATO’s “Collective Defense”.
Holding Moscow responsible for the explosion could activate NATO’s collective defense principle known as Article 5, according to which an attack on a member of the alliance is considered an attack on all, leading to the start of consultations about a possible military response.
Poland said it was checking whether it needed to request consultations under Article 4, which allows NATO members to bring up any issue of concern, particularly security-related, for discussion in the North Atlantic Council.
Poland summoned Russia’s ambassador to Warsaw for an explanation after Moscow denied responsibility for the incident, while Ukrainian and Polish authorities said the missiles were Russian.
Raise the alert
The Polish authorities have decided to put all major services in the country on high alert, with special emphasis on monitoring the country’s airspace.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said, following a special cabinet meeting, that the country’s government had put all services on high alert: police, border guards and firefighters. Other services and special services have also been put on high alert at this critical moment.
