Finland withdraws from the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines (article in Finnish)

https://yle.fi/a/74-20153125

by analfabeetti

28 comments

  1. Finland initiates preparations to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel mines.

    Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (National Coalition Party) announced the decision moments ago at a government press conference on foreign and security policy.

    Orpo also stated that Finland’s defense budget will be increased to three percent of the gross domestic product. At the same time, the modernization of the army will begin.

    Present at the press conference were the leaders of the governing parties: Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (National Coalition Party), Minister of Finance Riikka Purra (Finns Party), Minister of Education Anders Adlercreutz (Swedish People’s Party), and Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Sari Essayah (Christian Democrats).

    Also in attendance were Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen (National Coalition Party) and Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen (National Coalition Party).

    According to Yle, a report commissioned by the defense administration on landmines has been completed and submitted to the government.

    Finland’s foreign policy leadership also believes that necessary measures must be taken to ensure security, which would include the reintroduction of landmines. The first to report on the matter was Iltalehti.

    Yle reported yesterday that a clear majority of Members of Parliament who responded to Yle’s survey support withdrawing from the Ottawa Treaty.

    A total of 117 MPs responded to the survey, with 91 supporting the idea. Twelve opposed it, and 14 were undecided. In Yle’s survey, support for reintroducing landmines was stronger among government parties than in the opposition.

    Finland officially joined the treaty in 2012. When Parliament approved the accession in November 2011, only the Finns Party and some Centre Party MPs voted against it.

  2. About time. It never made sense to me why we should take part in this if the only realistic aggressor, that being Russia, did not do so as well – as a bare minimum that is.

    Let’s just hope we’ll never need to put the anti-personnel mines to use.

  4. Last year I would have been troubled by this. Now I see it as disgracefully necessary.

  6. Be ready to be condemned by russia, who never signed the Ottawa Treaty in the first place.

  8. When I adviced this for Turkey in this sub I got many criticism. If your border is not safe anymore you can’t play Pollyanna role. Not every country has good borders like Netherlands or Austria… Fins did well.

  9. This is a horrible weapon. It targets everyone and causes harm that transcends time, nationality and age .

    **Edit:** Downvote me to hell if you feel as inclined to do so. I am standing by my opinion. Landmines are a horrible weapon. Even a single photo of child losing their limbs or life because of landmines, is one photo too many to convince me otherwise.

  10. Russia: “No, no, you can’t play by our rules!”

  13. Really on the fence about this one tbh. Russia won’t play fair but landmines are a century-long curse.

  15. I know most people are cheering in this thread. And I agree that Russia will use them anyway so we’ll be behind, but this is a very slippery slope. First of all, these mines aren’t good for anyone. But even ignoring all that, this is just another micro escalation in an already very tense climate. Russia will be angry about this and the tension will only rise again. Now I don’t have the answer right now on how, but we should focus on decreasing escalation instead of increasing it.

  16. I wish we lived in a time where I could be upset with this but honestly, go for it Finland.

  17. Out of curiosity how realistic is it to just mine the entire border?

  18. All Europe should retire from this treaty, especially Eastern Europe. Whatever means we must use to protect our Union is legal and necessary.

  19. This is the correct decision. Small nations facing existential threats need to at times choose between potential obliteration and having a few excess mines in their forests and fields if they get invaded by the largest nation on the planet.

  20. I think even Canada have to consider withdrawing from the Ottawa Treaty

  21. Seems like Putin is making immigration go away. That’s not going to help his favorite European politicians.

  22. “Good”.

    Every country bordering Russia needs to take all precautions. Human or not, the attacker is not. Gotta prepare and do such with the most ability for success.

  23. Remember kids, against russia you have to follow your Geneva checklist.

  24. They want to blow up invaders properly. Gee, wonder who they could be.

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