NEARLY 20 drones entered Polish airspace on Sept 10, triggering deep anxiety among North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members.
For the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, alliance forces fired on Russian targets after they violated Nato airspace.
Just as worrisome, said European diplomats, has been United States President Donald Trump‘s refusal to publicly hold Moscow accountable for the incident, coupled with the lack of US participation in fending it off.
Many alliance members already question Trump‘s commitment to their defence in the event of an actual Russian attack.
Trump‘s muted response was widely seen as another example of his “America First” push for European allies to take more responsibility for their own security and shoulder the cost of helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia.
But some analysts said Trump also could be wary of antagonising Russian President Vladimir Putin, who they say may be testing Nato’s military capabilities and US resolve more than 3½ years after Moscow invaded Ukraine.
“This episode underscores that Trump, in contrast to every president since Roosevelt, does not see Europe’s security as fundamental to American security,” said Ivo Daalder, the US ambassador to Nato from 2009 to 2013, who is now a senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the president “wants this war, which was brought on by Joe Biden’s incompetence, to end as quickly as possible”.
The official added that it is up to Russia and Ukraine to halt the conflict, and for Europe to “do its part by putting economic pressure on countries that finance the war”.
Poland, backed by aircraft from other Nato members, shot down at least 19 of the drones.
Russia said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time and that it had not intended to hit any targets in Poland.
In any other era since the dawn of the Cold War, such an incident likely would have set off alarms in Washington, triggering a swift response, diplomats and analysts say.
But Trump, who has a history of questioning the Nato alliance that Washington has led since its creation after World War Two, answered with what some European officials privately said amounted to a public shrug.
“What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
A day later, pressed by reporters about the Russian drone incursion, Trump said: “It could have been a mistake.”
But Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in a rare contradiction of the US president from one of Washington’s closest European allies, last Friday rejected the notion that the drones could have entered Poland in error.
Later on Friday, the US joined Western allies to express concern about the incursion and accused Moscow of violating international law and the founding UN Charter.
Last Friday in Brussels, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte, announcing plans to beef up the defence of the alliance’s eastern flank, said Trump had made “absolutely clear that we all stand together on this” and that he was satisfied with the US response.
Some European officials and analysts portrayed the drone incursion, which many saw as a Russian attempt to probe Nato defences, as a wake-up call for the continent.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato secretary-general from 2009 to 2014, acknowledged that Europe is uneasy but said there is recognition that now is the moment for Europe to step up.
“That means deploying real assets, investing directly in Ukraine’s defence industry, and providing concrete security guarantees and a reassurance force inside Ukraine. Still, “the US must remain engaged”.
Other issues were competing for Trump’s attention last week.
On the same day as the drone incursion, he and much of his staff were stunned by news of the killing of activist Charlie Kirk.
Russia was back on Trump’s agenda last Friday, as he told Fox News that his patience with Putin was “running out fast”.
US warplanes played no role in shooting down the drones that violated Polish airspace, US officials said.
Trump’s apparent decision to let the Europeans take the lead in the response echoes his recent approach on Russia sanctions.
He has pressured European countries to do more before the US will further tighten the economic screws on Moscow.
The writers are from Reuters
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
