NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning anti-personnel landmines due to the military threat from their neighbor Russia, the four countries said on Tuesday. Quitting the 1997 treaty, which has been ratified or acceded to by more than 160 nations, will allow Poland and the three Baltic countries to start stockpiling and using landmines again.
"Military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased," the countries' defense ministers said in a joint statement. "With this decision we are sending a clear message: our countries are prepared and can use every necessary measure to defend our security needs."
All four countries share borders with Russia. Poland, Lithuania and Latvia also share borders with Moscow's ally Belarus.
The announcement comes as Ukraine and Russia may be on the brink of agreeing a 30-day ceasefire and may move towards a more permanent end to the three-year-old conflict sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Poland and the Baltics are concerned that an end to the war in Ukraine could lead Russia to re-arm and target them instead. All four were under Moscow's dominion during the Cold War.