Finland plans to exit antimine treaty as threat from Russia grows

By AFP and Global Watch | 2025-07-28

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has approved his country's withdrawal from a treaty banning antipersonnel mines, citing a "deteriorated security situation" and longer-term threat from Russia.

Finnish lawmakers voted to leave the anti-land-mine Ottawa Convention in June, but the decision needed to be signed by Stubb.

"Finland is not facing an immediate military threat, but the changes in the operating environment require that we strengthen our defense," Stubb said in a statement on July 4.

"We have a long border with Russia, which is not a party to the Ottawa Agreement. We have seen how Russia wages war today."

Finland's decision will come into effect six months after the country formally notifies the United Nations (UN).

The Nordic country shares a 1,340km-long border with Russia.

Signatories to the Ottawa Convention are prohibited from using, stockpiling, producing or transferring antipersonnel mines, and are required to destroy any remaining stockpiles.

Designed to be buried or hidden on the ground, the mines often mutilate victims, who are not immediately killed, with aid groups decrying their long-term impact on civilians.

Others plan to quit treaty

Stubb said he understood the withdrawal would be criticized, adding that Finland was "committed to the responsible deployment of antipersonnel mines" and would not use them in peacetime.

Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, as well as Poland, also plan to exit the treaty.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres in June called on states to "immediately halt any steps towards their withdrawal."

He said he was planning a global campaign "to uphold the norms of humanitarian disarmament, accelerate mine action as an enabler of human rights and sustainable development, and drive forward the vision of a mine-free world."

Russian buildup on Finnish border

The withdrawal from the treaty comes as Russia quietly rebuilds its military presence along its border with Finland -- a strategic shift that suggests Moscow is laying the groundwork for a future confrontation with NATO.

Satellite photographs analyzed by open-source intelligence firm Black Bird Group for The New York Times have shown new encampments and the expansion of existing bases near the Finnish frontier.

The moves appear to reverse the drawdown that occurred when Russia diverted troops from its northern border to focus on the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

While it could take years for Russia to build up sufficient forces to launch an assault on Finland, the effort is already well under way, say analysts.

"When the Russians were building up their forces in Ukraine or on the border with Ukraine in anticipation of their invasion, the Finns noted that they pulled the troops away from that border, and the Finns were extraordinarily concerned about what would happen, obviously, if the troops went back again, which is what we've seen," Fiona Hill, a senior fellow with the Brookings Institution, said in an interview with National Public Radio on May 20.