NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia said Tuesday they are abandoning the 1997 Ottawa convention treaty outlawing the use of anti-personnel landmines (APL) in the wake of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
The Ottawa convention sought to outlaw APLs, which target humans in explosive blasts and have killed thousands of civilians. The treaty also notes that the minds can cause “unnecessary suffering or superfluous injury.”
“Military threats to NATO Member States bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased,” the four countries wrote in a statement.
“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,” they added.
The four nations have expressed fears about Russian aggression since that country invaded Ukraine in 2022. Three of the four were once part of the Soviet Union, while Poland was controlled by a Soviet-bloc government.
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for hours via phone on Tuesday working to secure a peace deal, which the White House has promised will come soon.
Poland, Lithuania and Estonia require approval from Parliament before their agreements to uphold the Ottawa convention can be retracted.
The United States, China, Russia, North Korea, Myanmar, India, Iran and Israel have not signed or ratified the treaty.
