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.
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.