Finland notifies UN of withdrawal from landmine ban treaty

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — a U.S. Air Force Airman prepares an M18A1 claymore for detonation at Camp James A. Garfield Joint Military Training Center, Ohio, June 7, 2024. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christina Russo via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service)

HELSINKI  -  Finland has notified the United Nations it is leaving the Ottawa Convention that bans the use of anti-personnel landmines, its foreign ministry said late on Thursday.

The withdrawal will take effect six months after the notification, in January 2026, the ministry said in a statement. 

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Poland - all NATO and EU members bordering Russia - have approved withdrawal from the treaty, citing the increased military danger from their neighbour.

Earlier in July, Reuters reported that Lithuania and Finland are set to start domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year to supply themselves, according to officials from the two NATO member states.

 (Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Stine Jacobsen // REUTERS)