VILNIUS (Reuters) – NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel mines due to the military threat from their neighbour Russia, the four countries said on Tuesday.
Quitting the 1997 treaty, which has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 nations but not by Russia, will allow Poland and the three Baltic countries to start stockpiling landmines again.
“Military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased,” the countries’ defence ministers said in a joint statement.
“With this decision we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our security needs,” they said.
The planned withdrawal was done to allow an effective protection of the region’s borders, Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene said in a separate statement.
Finland said in December it was also considering pulling out of the international agreement because of Russia’s use of such weapons in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Andrius Sytas, editing by Angus MacSwan and Terje Solsvik)
