Poland officially withdraws from the Ottawa Convention on Landmines, citing the threat from Russia

Poland will use both anti-personnel and anti-tank mines to defend its eastern border against the growing threat from Russia, Poland’s deputy defense minister told The Associated Press on Friday, as the country formally left an international convention banning the use of the controversial weapons.

The 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, prohibits signatories from storing or using anti-personnel mines, which can last for years and are known to have caused great suffering among civilians in former conflict zones in countries such as Cambodia, Angola and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Poland, which ratified the document in 2012 and completed the destruction of its domestic stockpile of anti-personnel mines in 2016, withdrew from the treaty on Friday and said it would resume weapons production.

“These mines are one of the most important elements of the defense structure we are building on NATO’s eastern flank, in Poland, on the border with Russia to the north and Belarus to the east,” said Pawel Zalewski, Poland’s deputy defense minister.

He said Poland must defend itself against Russia, a country that “has very aggressive intentions towards its neighbors” and has never committed itself to the international landmine ban treaty.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, neighboring countries have reassessed their participation in the international treaty. Last year, Warsaw joined Finland, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Ukraine to announce that it would leave the contract.

We are not an aggressive country, but we must use all means to deter Russia.– Pawel Zalewski, Deputy Minister of Defense of Poland

Landmines are explosive weapons that are placed on or directly underground and detonate if a person or vehicle drives over them. Anti-tank mines, which cannot be triggered by the weight of a person, are not prohibited in the Ottawa Convention.

Russia is one of nearly three dozen countries, along with the United States, that never joined the Ottawa Treaty during Donald Trump’s first term announced a new policy This allowed military commanders to use landmines that are “non-persistent,” meaning they have built-in mechanisms to destroy or deactivate the mine after a certain period of time.

The US announced towards the end of Joe Biden’s term that it would give Ukraine anti-personnel mines to slow Russia’s advance on the battlefield.

Part of the Eastern Shield strategy

Zalewski said Poland would begin domestic production of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, adding that the government would work with Polish manufacturers. He said Poland was striving for self-sufficiency.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday that Poland would “soon” be able to mine its eastern borders within 48 hours in the event of a threat. Tusk spoke after taking part in a demonstration of Bluszcz, an unmanned anti-tank mine distribution vehicle made by the Polish company Belma SA and a military research institute.

Given the length of the country’s eastern borders, “many” landmines are needed, Zalewski said.

Poland plans to prepare mine supplies as part of the so-called Eastern Shield, a system of reinforced fortifications that Poland has been building on its borders with Belarus and Russia since 2024, Zalewski said.

However, he said Poland would only use the mines along its borders “if there is a realistic threat of Russian aggression.”

“We respect our territory very much and do not want to exclude it from daily use by Polish citizens,” Zalewski said.

Human rights groups have condemned moves to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, arguing that anti-personnel landmines are too dangerous for civilians.

But Zalewski replied that the country was balancing by keeping the mines in reserve provided the country was not attacked.

“We are not an aggressive country,” he said, “but we must use all means to deter Russia.”