Norway will not withdraw from the international convention banning anti-personnel mines, as Finland did, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Wednesday, the 2nd of April, according to Politico and Reuters.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on Tuesday that Finland was preparing to withdraw from the 1997 Ottawa Convention to reduce the military threat posed by neighbouring Russia, following Poland and the Baltic States which announced similar moves last month.
NORWAY WILL THUS BE THE ONLY EUROPEAN COUNTRY BORDERING RUSSIA THAT DOES NOT INTEND TO STORE ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES AGAIN AND HAS NO INTENTION OF CHANGING THIS.
He said it was important to maintain a global bias against weapons that cripple and kill long after the war is over and to ensure that some types of weapons, including chemical and biological weapons, are not used in conflicts.
“This particular [Finnish] decision is something we regret,” said Barth Eide. “If we start to weaken our commitments, it will be easier for warring groups around the world to use these weapons again because it will reduce stigma.”
Norway is not concerned that maintaining its policy on landmines will weaken its defences, he said. The Nordic country shares a 200-kilometre border with Russia in the far northern Arctic.
“We have a very modern and advanced defence system. We have acquired extremely advanced systems that can attack from land, air and sea,” Eide said.
The 1997 Ottawa Convention has come under increased pressure because of the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine, especially in Russia’s neighbours, which are wary of Moscow’s expanding aggression.
On the 18th of March, Poland and the three Baltic states announced their intention to withdraw from the international convention because they consider that there is a threat to NATO members bordering Russia and Belarus.
“We believe that in the current security situation it is of paramount importance to provide our defence forces with the flexibility and freedom of choice to potentially use new weapons systems and solutions to strengthen the defence of the Alliance’s vulnerable eastern flank,” the defence ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said in a statement.