Finland’s parliament votes to withdraw from landmine treaty due to Russia threat
- Europe
- June 21, 2025
The Parliament of Finland voted excessively on Thursday to withdraw from an international treaty that prohibits antipersonal land mines, citing the threat raised by Russia.
Finnish legislators voted 157-18 in favor of a government proposal to leave the Treaty of Ottawa. The 1997 agreement, which prohibits the use, production and transfer or antipersonal mines, has been ratified or accessed by more than 160 countries.
The NATO member, Finland, who shares a terrestrial border of 1,340 kilometers with Russia, said that terrestrial mines could be used to defend their fixed and resistant terrain in case of an attack.
Russia has not joined the OTTAWA gift, and its large -scale invasion of Ukraine has turned the country devastated by the war in the most charged nation in the world, according to analysts.
Several other European and NATO nations Bordean Russia – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland – recently retired from the treaty or have announced plans to do so.
The president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, defended the decision.
“The reality in the end is that we have as our neighboring country an aggressive imperialist state called Russia, which is not a member of the Ottawa treaty and that they are its land mines,” Hey said.
Earlier this week, the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, launched a global campaign to boost disarmament and action of the mine. He said he was “very worried” about the ads and steps of several UN countries to leave Ottawa’s treaty.
In response, Finland Minister of Defense, Antti Hakkanen, said that “the Government and Parliament have the duty to take measures that reduce Finland’s risk of being attacked.”
“Protection against Russian threat is priority,” he wrote on X on Tuesday.
According to the rules of the treaty, the withdrawal will enter into force six months after Finland formally notifies the UN, at what point the country will be allowed to store land mines.
The United States, China, India, Pakistan and South Korea are among the main nations that have not joined the pact.
According to NATO, almost 70 countries and territories are still affected by the presence of about 110 million land mines, which can remain inactive under the ground for many years before being activated.
At least 5,757 people, mostly civilians, were killed or wounded by land mines and injured in 2023, said the Terrestrial mine monitor of the NGO.
