HELSINKI (Reuters) – NATO member Finland plans to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel landmines and will also boost its overall defence spending in the coming years, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Tuesday.
Poland and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said last month they will withdraw from the convention due to the military threat from neighbouring Russia.
By quitting the 1997 treaty, Finland, which guards NATO’s longest border with Russia, could start stockpiling landmines again to have them at hand should a need arise.
Orpo said there was no immediate military threat to his nation but that Russia poses a long-term threat to all of Europe.
“Withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention will give us the possibility to prepare for the changes in the security environment in a more versatile way,” he said.
The announcement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump is doubling down on ending the Ukraine war which has led to growing Polish and Baltic concerns that Russia could re-arm and target them instead.
Orpo told a press conference Finland will increase its defence spending to at least 3% of gross domestic product by 2029, and that the spending by that time will rise by around 3 billion euros ($3.24 billion).
($1 = 0.9264 euros)
(Reporting by Essi Lehto and Anne Kauranen, editing by Terje Solsvik and Anna Ringstrom)
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