The unanimous recommendation to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention which Baltic and Polish Ministers of Defence have come up with in an intense debate sends a strategic message: all possibilities will be exhausted to strengthen deterrence and ensure effective defence while freely availing of military solutions of free choice. The decision to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention is passed by the President and the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.
Lithuania ratified the Ottawa Convention in 2003. The threat perception has changed fundamentally since then, the security situation has deteriorated and the former legal commitment is now seen as a curtailment of Lithuania’s capabilities and choice in national defence.
“The common regional decisions sends a clear message: countries bordering russia are prepared to use everything possible to protect their citizens. We have reached a unanimous position in an intense debate that represents the united standpoint of the Baltic states and Poland regarding the difficult geopolitical situation. We want to establish mutual principles to ensure the most effective possible border protection. We have also discussed our standpoint with the Allies, on the ground or in preparations. I am grateful to them for the constructive approach to the sensitive situation we are in,’ says Minister of National Defence Dovilė Šakalienė.
Russia, the aggressor in the war in Ukraine, is not a party to the Ottawa Convention. It has vast stockpiles of anti-personnel mines and use them intensely against a signatory of the Ottawa Convention, Ukraine.
Anti-personnel mines are an effective and relatively low-price means to disrupt pedestrian movement of infantry forces and establish a strong and hardy defence line to block an advancing force.
Lithuania will continue adhering to the recognized principles and norms of the international law addressing methods and means of warfare and protection of civilians despite denouncing the Ottawa Convention. Lithuania is absolutely serious about it commitments concerning implementation of the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols and will do everything required to mitigate any humanitarian implications of anti-personnel mine use.
