The Lithuanian Parliament gave its green light on Thursday, May 8 at the end of the country of the international convention prohibiting anti -personnel mines, while this Baltic State seeks to strengthen its defense after Russian aggression in Ukraine. “It’s official: Lithuania withdraws from the Ottawa Convention, a decision approved by Parliament today”said the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense on X after the deputies’ vote. “The withdrawal will take effect in six months”he said.
A total of 107 Lithuanian deputies voted in favor of this decision and three abstained. None voted against. In March, Poland and the three Baltic States – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia – had announced their decision to leave the Convention. Since the ratification of the Ottawa Convention, “The situation in terms of security in our region has been substantially deteriorated”had justified Warsaw, Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn, neighbors more or less close to Russia and faithful allies of Ukraine.
The four countries were followed by Finland, which in turn announced in April its decision to leave the Convention.
Latvian deputies were the first to authorize the release of the treaty on April 16. The 1997 Ottawa Convention – which prohibits employment, storage, production and transfer of anti -personnel mines – has been ratified by more than 160 countries. Russia, the United States and China have not joined it.
Block access to certain areas
Anti -personnel mines, placed manually or dispersed by rockets or shells, are used to dissuade opponents or the population to access certain areas. Trunk by pressure or near a person, they can kill or cause serious injuries. These devices often remain active after a conflict, thus preventing the return of populations.
By already invoking security reasons against Russia, Lithuania had withdrawn, on March 6, from an international convention prohibiting submunition bombs. This decision made Lithuania the first country to leave the convention adopted in 2008, and the first country in the European Union to leave a multilateral weapons regulatory agreement.