Baltic States and Poland announce withdrawal from Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention
Photo: Poland and the Baltic States withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines (Getty Images)
Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia intend to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines. This is necessary because of the military threat from Russia, which has not joined the convention, according to a joint statement by the four countries' defense ministers.
As noted in the statement, the security situation in the region has deteriorated significantly, and military threats against NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have increased significantly.
In the current security environment, it is crucial to provide armed forces with the flexibility and choice to potentially employ modern weapon systems and solutions to strengthen the defense of the Alliance's threatened eastern flank, the ministers said.
“In light of these considerations, we—the Ministers of Defence of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland—unanimously recommend withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention. With this decision, we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our territory and freedom,” the statement said.
Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the Polish authorities are considering the possibility of the country's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines, as well as the Dublin Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Withdrawal from the 1997 Ottawa Convention, which has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 countries, except for Russia, would allow Poland and the three Baltic states to start producing mines again.
