Antipersonnel land mines are horrific weapons, not only because of the terrible danger they pose to those with no involvement in a conflict but also because they can remain lethal for decades after hostilities end. That’s why in 1997, in a convention usually known as the Ottawa Treaty, a ban on the use, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines was agreed by the vast majority of countries — with some exceptions, such as . . . Russia, China, the U.S., India, and Pakistan. Russia’s production of land mines comfortably exceeds their production by all the others.
In any event, as smaller countries know, such mines can be of great value in the face of a possible invasion, particularly by a numerically superior opponent.
And so, via the Daily Telegraph:
From Lapland in the high north of Finland to Lublin province in eastern Poland, a new and explosive iron curtain is about to descend across Europe.
Every Nato country along that line has decided that deterring Russian invasion requires a defensive measure that would once have been inconceivable. If necessary, they will sow the tranquil forests of pine and birch along their borders with millions of landmines, a weapon previously considered so abhorrent that most of the world tried to ban it forever.
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have announced they will leave the Ottawa Convention of 1997, which prohibits anti-personnel landmines. Later in June, all five states are expected to give the United Nations formal notice of their withdrawal, allowing them to manufacture, stockpile and deploy such munitions from the end of the year. Together, they guard 2,150 miles of Nato’s frontier with Russia and its client state of Belarus.
The Daily Telegraph’s David Blair interviewed Lithuania’s defense minister, Dovilė Šakalienė. She explains:
“Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, its systematic violations of international law, and its military provocations on our borders with both Russia and Belarus pose an existential threat.”
Russia’s conduct in Ukraine has shown that talk of an existential threat is no exaggeration, and its increasingly aggressive activities further west add to the importance of preparing for something worse:
Lithuania, which plans to spend 5.5 per cent of GDP on defense . . . has allocated €800 million (£680 million) to manufacture anti-tank and anti-personnel landmines.
Šakalienė emphasizes the cold reality of the Russian threat. “Attacks are happening already,” she says. “If you map out all the ongoing hybrid attacks, including cyber attacks, border provocations and constant information operations, you will see an unprecedented level of hostile behavior from Russia directed at Lithuania and the region.”
The more that Russia’s neighbors show that they will do what it takes to keep Russian invaders at bay, the less likely it is that such an invasion will occur.