Estonia and Lithuania are definitely from the international treaty of Ottawa that prohibits the use of landmines. They informed the United Nations on Friday, write international press agencies. The two Baltic states want to be able to use land mines to defend themselves against their neighboring country Russia – Lithuania borders the Russian exclave Kaliningrad. Since the invasion of Ukraine, the States have feared a Russian invasion of their country.
According to the declaration of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “the withdrawal from the Convention stems from the security situation in the region, which has deteriorated as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and is based on compelling considerations of national security.” Lithuania writes in a statement that Putins Russia “is the greatest existential threat to Europe in the long term.” “In the light of such threats, Lithuania will take all the necessary measures to defend its state, its population and every centimeter of NATO territory.”
The parliaments of Latvia and Finland, also neighboring countries of Russia, have also given permission for withdrawal from the Convention. Poland is also planning to withdraw, but are still waiting for the Senate’s approval. In March, these five countries already made known to step out of the treaty, but it was not yet clear whether their parliaments would agree.
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Treaty of Ottawa
The prohibition on the use of landmines was laid down in 1997 in the Ottawa Convention signed by forty countries. Later, more than a hundred other countries joined this. The Convention also forbids countries to produce landmines, transfer it or to construct stocks. Landmines are difficult to clean up and therefore often make (citizen) victims for years in peacetime.
Nevertheless, the land mine remained in use: the United States, China and Russia did not sign the treaty and used the weapon frequently. In an interview with NRC In April, the Red Cross already called the figures around Landmijnen ‘worrying’. According to the aid organization in 2023, at least 833 worldwide were killed by a land mine, the highest number since 2011. 80 percent of the victims were citizens.
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