Finland and Lithuania are set to produce anti-personnel landmines, according to reports dated Wednesday, July 8th.
Domestic production of the devices will permit their domestic defence sectors to be kept supplied and for Ukraine to become a buyer of the lethal devices in the future. Both countries share a border with Russia, making growing regional tensions a major concern for their governments and populations.
The two Scandinavian and Baltic countries have both announced their intention to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of such technology in war and peacetime and cites the long-term effects of anti-personnel mines on civilians in current and former war zones. Ukraine looks set to make the same decision. (Its antagonist Russia was never a party to the Convention in the first place.)
Separately, three other NATO and European Union member states—Estonia, Latvia, and Poland—are also scheduled to withdraw from the treaty, again citing the Russian threat, with Polish defence firms claiming that they are ready to move into landmine production if required.