Finland may withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that his country, which is a member of NATO, intends to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel landmines and increase defense spending in the coming years, the Reuters news agency reported on April 1.

"Withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention will give us the opportunity to prepare for changes in the security environment in a more universal way," Orpo said.

According to the agency, Poland and the Baltic states have taken similar steps "because of the alleged military threat from Russia."

Withdrawing from the convention will allow Finland, which has the longest border with Russia among NATO countries, to start accumulating anti-personnel mines again, the Prime Minister said.

In addition, Orpo noted that Finland will increase defense spending to 3% of GDP by 2029, which will amount to about €3 billion in additional funds.

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The Ottawa Convention was signed on December 3, 1997 and entered into force on March 1, 1999. It prohibits the use, production and storage of anti-personnel mines.

On March 18, the defense Ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania recommended that their countries withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on Anti-personnel Mines.

On March 7, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Warsaw was considering the possibility of withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, as well as from the Dublin Convention on Cluster Munitions. According to him, all of Poland's neighbors have both types of weapons.