Estonian Parliament supports withdrawal from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention

The Estonian parliament has passed a law withdrawing the country from the convention banning anti-personnel mines, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced, writes hromadske.

This is the so-called Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines. It entered into force in the spring of 1999. Ukraine signed the convention in December 1999, and the document was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada in 2005. 32 countries around the world are not parties to the agreement, including the USA, China and Russia.

The Estonian parliament passed a law on withdrawing from the convention on June 4. The corresponding bill was submitted to parliament by the country's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna. According to him, withdrawing from the convention is a clear signal that Estonia is ready to use all necessary means to protect its territory.

He also emphasized that after Estonia joined the Ottawa Convention in 2004, the security situation significantly deteriorated, in particular due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.

"Russia poses a serious and long-term threat not only to Ukraine, but also to all of Europe. During its aggression against Ukraine, Russia, which is not a party to the Ottawa Convention, widely used anti-personnel mines," said the Estonian Foreign Minister.

He added that the country seeks to minimize the impact of military operations on the civilian population, as well as to protect victims of armed conflicts, in particular by supporting humanitarian demining projects.

Recall that in May 2025, the Lithuanian Seimas also adopted a decision to denounce the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of the Use of Anti-Personnel Mines. The denunciation of the convention will enter into force six months after the adoption of the relevant decision.