NATO countries are working to determine when a cyber attack would trigger the collective defense provision
US Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, the commander of NATO forces in Europe, says Russia practises "indirect" activity below the level of conflict AFP/File / JIM WATSON

NATO countries are working to determine when a cyber attack would trigger the collective defense provision in the alliance's charter, a US general said on Thursday.


The alliance is "dealing with the issue around this and in cyber and working to define an understanding of what would be a trigger for Article 5," General Curtis Scaparrotti, the commander of NATO forces in Europe, told a US Senate committee.

It "recognizes the difficulty in indirect or asymmetric activity that Russia is practising, activities below the level of conflict," Scaparrotti said.

Moscow operates "in a fashion that would be ambiguous, it would be most difficult to come to... a decision," he said.

NATO leaders have agreed that a cyber attack against a member state could trigger Article 5, and reaching a specific understanding on the issue would allow "greater agility, greater flexibility in determining how to respond," he said.