Summary

Finland will exit the 1997 Ottawa landmine treaty and increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2029 in response to the growing threat from Russia, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announced.

The move aligns Finland with Poland and the Baltic states, which also plan to leave the treaty.

Finland joined NATO in 2023 and shares NATO’s longest border with Russia.

Officials emphasized landmines as a necessary deterrent. The decision, backed by major parties, allows renewed stockpiling and marks a major shift in Finland’s defence posture.

  • @perestroika@lemm.eeEnglish
    5•16 hours ago

    Yes. Every country on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea has recently left the land mine ban.

    Unlike Ukraine, we don’t have hundreds of kilometers of space for a strategic retreat. So if signs start indicating that an invasion might come, border areas will have mine fields.

    If it comforts anyone: many modern land mines have electronic detonators. They can be designed to become inert after a set amount of time, or when their battery runs out of juice. Old models had mechanical / piezo detonators, and could survive decades in the right conditions.

  • @A_norny_mousse@feddit.orgEnglish
    25•1 day ago

    I can’t help myself, I’m glad that EU countries recognize the threat and arm themselves.

    Have you noticed that most “Say No To War” people - then and now - claim to be “unpolitical”? In other words, follow a gut feeling instead of forming an informed opinion? That was me in the distant past. And I see people around me talk like that.
    Yes, it feels nicer. But they open themselves wide to hybrid warfare disinformation tactics, unless they make the effort of informing themselves. Until then, please have the courage to say “I don’t have enough information to have an opinion about this topic”.

    As for specifically Finland and specifically this treaty:

    The move aligns Finland with Poland and the Baltic states, which also plan to leave the treaty.

    This makes sense.

    The EU should’ve listened to the Baltic states’ Russia policies decades ago.

  • AmidFuror
    13•1 day ago

    So, when we don’t need anti-personnel landmines, then they are bad, and other nations should not use them. When we do need them, their use becomes acceptable.

    Is that about right?