Poland and the Baltic States Withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty over Russian Threats

Poland and the three Baltic Sea coastal countries have announced their intention to withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, citing military threats from Russia.

On the 6th, in Warsaw, Poland, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Polish Minister of National Defense (right), and Rustem Umerov, Ukrainian Minister of Defense (second from left), are meeting. Photo by AP and Yonhap News.

On the 18th (local time), the defense ministers of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania issued a joint statement saying, "We unanimously recommend withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention," adding, "This is a clear message that we are prepared and can take all necessary measures to defend our territory and freedom."

They further stated, "We must provide our military with the flexibility and freedom of choice to use new weapon systems and solutions to strengthen the vulnerable eastern flank defense." However, they also said that even if they withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, they will strive to uphold international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians in armed conflicts.

Finland, which shares a border of over 1,300 km with Russia, also decided in December last year to consider withdrawing from the convention, citing Russia's use of anti-personnel mines. Lithuania officially withdrew from the Convention on Cluster Munitions (Dublin Convention) on the 6th of this month after parliamentary approval in July last year.

Anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions are inhumane weapons that pose a high risk of civilian casualties. The Ottawa Convention, concluded in 1997, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel mines and mandates the destruction of buried mines. It has been ratified by 164 countries, but the United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and both North and South Korea have not participated.

In November last year, the United Nations urged compliance with the convention after then-U.S. President Joe Biden decided to supply anti-personnel mines to Ukraine, a ratifying country of the Ottawa Convention. The United States stated that the mines sent to Ukraine are "non-persistent mines" that deactivate two weeks after being laid.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.