Paulo Rangel spoke to journalists in Tokyo, where he will accompany the official visit of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro to Japan on Thursday and Friday.
The second in command of the government reiterated complete solidarity with Poland, which today reported an intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace and formally requested an urgent consultation with NATO allies, invoking Article 4 of the Atlantic Alliance.
The referenced article calls for consultations among the parties whenever one of the defense alliance members considers its “territorial integrity, political independence, or security” to be threatened.
When asked if this process might be a first step toward potentially invoking Article 5 of NATO, which states that “an armed attack against one member state of the Alliance is considered an attack against all member states”, the government official dismissed this scenario.
“I say we should not ignore the level of threat, nor should we exaggerate to claim we are on the brink of Article 5. That is not the case, fortunately, but obviously, this implies enhancing our alertness and vigilance”, he argued.
Regarding the specific consequences of triggering Article 4, Paulo Rangel conceded that it could lead to new sanctions against Russia by the European Union.
“There are already calls from several member states and from the High Representative herself for this purpose [Kaja Kallas] to swiftly move forward with the 19th sanctions package against Russia”, he stated.
For now, he added, no meetings are scheduled at the level of European foreign ministers, but he admitted the possibility of a virtual meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council “at any moment.”
The government figure, who had previously condemned on social network X the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones, reiterated “total solidarity with Poland.”
Portugal strongly condemns the violation of Polish airspace by Russia tonight. The 🇷🇺 aggression war against 🇺🇦 poses a severe threat to Europe’s security.
🇵🇹 expresses its total solidarity with 🇵🇱 as a NATO ally and EU member state.
— Negócios Estrangeiros PT (@nestrangeiro_pt) September 10, 2025
“As it is evident, there is a Russian escalation, which is an aggression escalation”, he stated.
Concerning the triggering of Article 4, the minister stated it is about placing NATO members “in a state of vigilance, with greater attention to the declared threat.”
“Russia seems to be acting provocatively, which clearly demands a very stern response from those targeted, and in this case, the European Union and the Atlantic Alliance are targeted”, he said, emphasizing a broad consensus that “the violation of Poland’s territorial integrity is unacceptable” and the need for a response.
When asked if Russia is testing the European Union, he replied: “I think Russia has been testing the world.”
“What we see is that the Russian response is a constant reinforcement of attacks, ultimately always trying to gauge the limits of its aggressive intervention. This means they are not interested in any peace, that is the most basic conclusion we can draw”, he considered.
Rangel argued that the European Union’s reaction should not involve a violent response that could escalate the conflict, but rather “have sufficient strength to deter, that is, to prevent Russia from acting in this manner.”
“At first, one might think it’s a coincidence, at the second time, there might be some tolerance. But, when we talk about weeks in which provocations are systematic, where a force of aggression is systematic, this is also a signal, and it’s one of two things: either we know how to interpret it, or we will face much more negative consequences”, he warned.
[News updated at 16:34]
