The Finnish parliament on Monday backed a proposal for the country to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of anti-personnel mines, amid concerns about a military threat from neighboring Russia, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
In this way, Finland joined other EU and NATO countries that border Russia – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland have also withdrawn or plan to withdraw from the treaty.
President Alexander Stubb, who heads Finland's foreign and security policy, defended the move on Tuesday.
“Ultimately, the reality is that we have as a neighbor an aggressive, imperialist state called Russia, which has not signed the Ottawa Treaty and which uses mines mercilessly,“ he said.
Russia has used mines during its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. Finland's decision follows similar votes in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where local parliaments have already approved those countries' withdrawal from the treaty.