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Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland announced plans to withdraw from an international convention banning the use of anti-personnel landmines, controversial weapons which can kill or injure people long after they are installed.
In a joint statement, the countries said their security situation “has fundamentally deteriorated″ since they ratified the Ottawa Convention more than a decade ago.
“Military threats to NATO Member States bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased [...] With this decision we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our security needs,” they said.
The announcement comes as Europe rushes to rearm itself after US President Donald Trump cast doubt over NATO’s collective security pact and started negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
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Lithuania became the first country to withdraw from an international treaty banning cluster munitions on March 6. Anti-personnel land mines and cluster munitions have been used regularly in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. “It is precisely now that these treaties are relevant,” a spokesperson from the International Committee of the Red Cross said last week.