As threats from Russia grow, Finland’s parliament has voted to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of landmines, Reuters reports.
With the vote, Finland joins other European Union and NATO countries – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland – that share a border with Russia and have withdrawn or plan to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb supported the decision. He said:
“The reality in the endgame is that we have as our neighbouring country an aggressive, imperialist state called Russia,
which itself is not a member of the Ottawa Treaty and which itself uses landmines ruthlessly.”
Russia has also used anti-personnel mines in the war in Ukraine.
The Finnish decision follows similar votes in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where lawmakers have decided to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention. Finland shares NATO’s longest border with Russia and will be allowed to start deploying mines six months after formally notifying other treaty members and the UN of its decision.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged to halt the arms race, calling on all countries to stick to existing agreements and halt their move to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention. He said he was deeply concerned about the developments. Responding to Guterres’ concerns, Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkanen said the withdrawal was aimed at protecting civilians and preventing possible loss of life. Häkkanen wrote on the microblogging platform that he believes that Finnish government and parliament have a duty to make decisions that will reduce the possibility of Finland being attacked.
Read also: Lithuanian parliament approves exit from landmine treaty