Several Eastern European countries that lie uneasily close to Russia are reconsidering their past support for an international landmine ban.
Following the Kremlin’s February 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine, such bordering countries as Finland, Estonia and Latvia, plus others within easy striking distance such as Poland and Lithuania, say they will withdraw from the 1997 Ottawa Convention.
On Sunday, Ukraine became the latest country to announce its withdrawal from the pact, which it ratified in May 2005 and is also known as the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
“Russia has never been a party to this convention and uses anti-personnel mines with extreme cynicism – and not just now in its war against Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a national address. “This has long been a trademark of Russian killers: to destroy life by every means available.”
The Ottawa treaty bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines to protect civilians from harm from the weapons that can still kill or maim long after the fighting has ended.
Russia has scattered anti-personnel landmines throughout the territory it occupies in Ukraine.
“This is a step that the reality of war has long demanded. Russia is not part of this convention and massively applies mines against our military and civilians,” said Roman Kostenko, a former soldier and lawmaker from Ukraine’s pro-European Holos Party.
“We cannot stay bound when the enemy has no limitations. The legislative strengthening of this decision must finally return Ukraine’s right to effective defense of its territory,” he said.
Last week, the former Soviet republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia formally submitted their withdrawal notices from the Ottawa Convention to the U.N. Secretary General.
They said the move will give them greater flexibility in choosing the weapons needed to strengthen their defenses against possible Russian aggression.
Officials with the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention said no signatory to the Ottawa Convention had ever pulled out of the treaty in the past.
“I am fully aware of the security concerns of those states, prompted by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the widespread use of mines by Russia in this conflict, but their withdrawal would represent a marked setback in our efforts to universalize the Convention prohibiting anti-personnel mines,” said Ambassador Tomiko Ichikawa, president of the disarmament conference.
“Faced with this situation, we need to redouble our efforts to uphold the Convention and extend the reach of its norms,” she said,
Antipersonnel landmines are designed to kill or wound soldiers. Their fuzes can be activated by a variety of means, such as by pressure, trip wires, anti-handling mechanisms, or command detonations.
The landmines in the U.S. arsenal are referred to as “smart” weapons because they remain active for preset periods after which they are designed to self-destruct or deactivate, rendering themselves harmless.
According to the Pentagon, their smart landmines have a 99.99% self-destruct reliability rate.
Defense ministers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, all of whom are also NATO members, said in March that they had concerns about adhering to the Ottawa Convention while Russia continues its policy of aggressive landmine use.
“In light of this unstable security environment marked by Russia’s aggression and its ongoing threat to the Euro-Atlantic community, it is essential to evaluate all measures to strengthen our deterrence and defense capabilities,” according to a joint statement from the four nations’ defense ministers.
“This decision was not taken lightly,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said last week on X. “Russia is the greatest long-term existential threat to Europe. It wages war to achieve political goals, undermines stability through sabotage, and is preparing for prolonged confrontation.”
Under the Ottawa Convention rules, a withdrawal becomes effective six months after the U.N. Secretary General receives the country’s formal notification.
Analysts with The Heritage Foundation think tank said the grinding war in Ukraine shows that Russia has no qualms about deploying anti-personnel landmines to degrade Ukrainian forces.
“Forced to confront their geographic situation and the utility of [anti-personnel landmines], Ukrainian forces have likewise deployed landmines to protect their country and safeguard their soldiers on the front line,” Heritage staffers Jordan Embree and Steven Groves wrote in a recent essay for Heritage.
“Indeed, Ukraine turned to the United States to supply it with the weapons to secure its battlefield objectives,” they wrote.
