Russia will soon test NATO's Article 5 collective defense treaty

Posted: 22nd November 2025

Editor’s note: This was Ukraine war latest for Nov. 20. Read the latest edition here.

Hello, this is Chris York reporting from Kyiv on day 1,366 of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Today’s top story:

Russia will soon test NATO’s Article 5 collective defense treaty and Europe must be prepared to use force to deter Moscow, Swedish Chief of Defense Gen. Michael Claesson has said.

“I’m sure and I’m convinced that they would be ready to test Article 5 of NATO at any point in the Baltic states or in some other part of Europe as well,” he said in an interview with Politico published Nov. 19.

“They are prepared to take enormous strategic risks to gain whatever they see possible to gain — we have seen it since Chechnya, we have seen it in Georgia, we have seen it in Crimea.”

Claesson also said Europe was not prepared either mentally or militarily for a war with Russia, which he described as “a systemic conflict… that will take a long time to solve.”

“We are basically talking about a generation … this is something that will not go away with potential ceasefire or a peace agreement in Ukraine.”

Claesson was clear that diplomatic means alone would not be enough to stop Russia further encroaching into Europe.

“The only language which is understood is force,” Claesson said. “We have to be firm … backing off all the time is not the right answer because … it incentivizes them.”

Read the full interview at Politico.