The Baltic countries withdraw from the Convention on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines. What you need to know

One by one, European countries are refusing to participate in the Ottawa Anti-personnel Mine Ban Treaty. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland have already announced their intention to withdraw from it, and Ukraine may join them in the near future. This will give them the opportunity to plant anti-personnel mines along the border with Russia. How Europe is returning to the use of these weapons — in the material of Izvestia.

What the Ottawa Convention says

• The Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines, also known as the Ottawa Convention, was signed in 1997 in the Canadian capital. A total of 166 states have signed or joined the agreement, the last of which was the Pacific Kingdom of Tonga, which announced its commitment on June 25, 2025.

• The parties to the Convention undertake never to use anti-personnel mines under any circumstances. They should not develop, manufacture, acquire, accumulate, preserve or transfer this type of weapon to anyone, nor should they encourage or assist in carrying out activities prohibited by the Convention. All the signatory countries commit to destroy all antipersonnel mines.

• The treaty provides a specific definition of an antipersonnel mine, which is a mine that is designed to explode from the presence, proximity or direct impact of a person and at the same time incapacitates, maimes or kills one or more people. It is emphasized that anti-personnel mines do not include those that detonate from the impact of a moving vehicle, that is, anti-tank mines.

• There are some exceptions regarding the performance of the contract. Countries may have some stockpile of antipersonnel mines in order to develop methods for their detection, clearance, or destruction for training purposes. It is also allowed to transfer mines for the purpose of their destruction in other countries.

What are the dangers of antipersonnel mines?

• The danger of anti-personnel mines lies in the fact that they are weapons of indiscriminate action, that is, they are not aimed at a specific person, and therefore any people can become their victims. It is not so much the military that suffers from mines as civilians. In 2023, 5,757 people died and suffered from them, 84% of the victims were civilians. The populations in Myanmar, Syria and Afghanistan have suffered the most.

• Antipersonnel mines can remain activated for a long time, even when the fighting in the mined area has long since ended. By their very nature, mines are weapons that are bound to cause damage to health or take a person's life sooner or later. Although there are mines with a self-destruct period, there is no complete guarantee that they will be destroyed and will not harm anyone. Where there is a suspicion of the presence of mines, the local population will be under constant mental pressure.

• Mines are specially designed to be more difficult to detect, which makes the mine clearance process more difficult in the future. Although it is customary to designate mined areas during combat operations in order to limit the maneuverability of the enemy and force him to move around a certain area, this is not enough to prevent casualties in the future. Even if you inform the civilian population about the danger of mines in a certain area and tell them how to recognize a trap, it will still be difficult to bring this information to children.

Is it possible to abandon the implementation of the convention

• There are no penalties for violating the terms of the Ottawa Convention. Each country that has signed it has the right to withdraw from it. To do this, the other participating states and the UN Security Council must be notified of the withdrawal. The notification must contain a full explanation of the reasons for withdrawing from the agreement.

The law is unwritten: the United States has authorized Kiev to use anti-personnel mines

Why Washington is going for a new round of conflict escalation

• The official withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention will take place six months after the date of receipt of the notification of withdrawal. At the same time, if a state involved in an armed conflict wants to withdraw, then the withdrawal will take effect only after the end of this conflict. The use of mines in the framework of an armed confrontation would be a violation of the international obligations assumed.

How the Baltic countries withdraw from the treaty

• Since 1997, no country has expressed a desire to withdraw from the treaty, until in March 2025, the defense ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland issued a joint statement of intent to withdraw from the Ottawa Agreement. They justified this by the alleged threat from Russia and Belarus bordering them. The parliaments of all four states eventually approved the withdrawal from the treaty and notified the UN about it in June.

• Finland decided to abandon the ban on antipersonnel mines separately from them. It was the last EU country to sign the Ottawa Convention in 2012 and subsequently destroyed about 1 million mines. However, in 2025, first the government and then the parliament approved withdrawal from the treaty. Finland noted that although the country does not directly face a military threat, Russia allegedly poses a long-term threat to Europe.

• The Finnish Government has indicated that it will not begin to re-deploy anti-personnel mines until it officially withdraws from the Ottawa Convention. Mines will not be installed immediately, first of all, their stocks will be formed in warehouses. In the case of mines, dangerous areas will be marked and monitored. Finland has the capacity to produce anti-personnel mines and will do it on its own, as most other countries in the world prohibit it under the Ottawa Treaty.

How Ukraine withdraws from the treaty

• Ukraine has become another country intending to withdraw from the anti-personnel mine ban treaty. Kiev ratified the treaty in 2005, but 20 years later, President Vladimir Zelensky signed a decree withdrawing from the convention. The parliament must now make the same decision. At the same time, due to the fighting, Ukraine formally has no right to renounce its obligations.

• Even before the start of the formal procedure for withdrawing from the Ottawa Treaty, Ukraine received antipersonnel mines from the United States. In 2024, President Joe Biden authorized the transfer of these weapons, although Washington had previously committed to sending mines only to the Korean Peninsula. The American authorities stressed that they would transfer to Ukraine only unstable mines that become inactive over time, but this step still caused condemnation from human rights organizations opposed to any use of mines.