Finland's lawmakers vote to leave land mine treaty as Nordic country boosts defenses against Russia
HELSINKI — Finland's parliament voted overwhelmingly to pull out of a major international treaty on antipersonnel land mines Thursday as the Nordic country seeks to boost its defenses against an increasingly assertive Russia next door.
Finland shares a 830-mile land border with Russia and joined NATO in 2023. Finland says land mines could be used to defend its vast and rugged terrain in the event of an attack. Finnish lawmakers voted 157-18 to move forward on a government proposal to leave the Ottawa Convention.
The Nordics and Baltics have been sounding the alarm on a potential Russian incursion since it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Analysts say Ukraine is among the countries that are the most affected by land mines and discarded explosives, as a result of Russia's ongoing war.
The Ottawa Convention was signed in 1997, and went into force in 1999. Nearly three dozen countries have not acceded to it, including some key current and past producers and users of land mines such as the United States, China, India, Pakistan, South Korea and Russia.
In a report released last year by Landmine Monitor, the international watchdog said land mines were still actively being used in 2023 and 2024 by Russia, Myanmar, Iran and North Korea.
In the Baltics, lawmakers in Latvia and Lithuania earlier this year voted to exit the treaty.
Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said civilians will pay the price if more countries leave the treaty.
'The global consensus that once made anti-personnel mines a symbol of inhumanity is starting to fracture,' Spoljaric said in a news release earlier this week. 'This is not just a legal retreat on paper—it risks endangering countless lives and reversing decades of hard-fought humanitarian progress.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
35 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Can the UK Afford to Defend Itself Anymore?
At the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit scheduled for later this month, alliance members are expected to adopt a new defense spending target totaling as much as 5% of each nation's gross domestic product, an historic acknowledgement that a new Cold War has arrived, and that a recalcitrant Donald Trump could one day leave Europe to the mercies of a revanchist Vladimir Putin. Indeed, NATO's sprint toward re-militarization comes after more than three years of Russian war that's claimed tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives. Unable to rely on America given Trump's expressions of warmth for Putin and coolness to allies, many European governments see shifting to a war-footing as arguably a matter of long-term survival. The short-term question, however, is how to pay for it. On this Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary, we explore this brutal conundrum as it is currently faced by one of NATO's key powers: the UK. In 2010, the UK had a relatively small military of about 100,000 personnel. In the 15 years since, that number has fallen by tens of thousands. The Labour government is now struggling to make up for decades of underinvestment. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged to spend 2.6% of GDP on defense by 2027, which falls short of the 3.5% goal proposed by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and the soon-to-be 5% target. The British military is currently at its smallest size since the Napoleonic era, and reversing course would require sustained investment and major sacrifices. Given the delicate nature of the UK's finances and the bond markets, it may not even be possible.
The Hill
41 minutes ago
- The Hill
Spain asks for break on NATO contribution: Report
Leaders in Madrid urged NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to exempt them from a proposed defense spending goal set at 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) ahead of next week's summit at The Hague. 'Committing to a 5% target would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive, as it would move Spain further away from optimal spending and would hinder the EU's ongoing efforts to strengthen its security and defence ecosystem,' Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote in a letter to Rutte, according to a copy reviewed by Reuters. 'It is the legitimate right of every government to decide whether or not they are willing to make those sacrifices. As a sovereign Ally, we choose not to,' he added. Spain currently has the lowest military spending among member nations, devoting 1.3 percent of its GDP to defense spending last year, according to reports from Politico EU. Member nations agreed to commit 2 percent of their GDP to defense spending in 2014, with the hope of ensuring NATO can sustain continued military readiness. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has sparked concerns about the possibility of a wider war involving Europe amid Russian President Vladimir Putin's push to obtain more land. However, Spain said the Kremlin poses no current threat to its borders but did not oppose heightened security for other NATO member nations. 'Of course, it is not our intention to limit the spending ambitions of other allies or to obstruct the outcome of the upcoming summit,' Sanchez wrote in the letter. Rutte has suggested that an increase in defense spending levels should ensure that 3.5 percent of GDP is allocated to military expenditures, while 1.5 percent is allocated for defense-related items, such as military mobility and cybersecurity, Politico EU reported. However, Sanchez said the policy would force Spain to purchase off-the-shelf equipment instead of cultivating its own industrial base as recorded in his letter. President Trump has encouraged Rutte's push for growth, citing a mounting concern for the United States' dominant support of the war in Ukraine, a non-member nation designated as a NATO partner country. Although his administration signed a minerals agreement with the country to recoup the financial commitment seeped in weapons packages and the purchase of military equipment, the president has urged other nations to help back the Eastern European ally. 'I didn't see Spain's comments, I'll make sure the president sees them and I can assure you he wants to see all European countries pay their fair share and meet that 5 percent threshold,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Thursday's press briefing. 'It's only fair considering the American taxpayers have given a significant chunk of money to the tune of billions of dollars to support our mutual interests and our assured defense.' The NATO summit is set to take place from June 24-25 and would require all 32 member nations to approve the increase in defense spending to solidify the objective. 'The NATO Summit is coming at a very precarious moment for the transatlantic relationship, marked by uncertainty about the US commitment to Europe, a relative stalemate in peace negotiations between Russia, and Ukraine and ongoing tensions over transatlantic trade,' Lauren Speranza, a fellow at the Center for European Progress said in a statement. 'As the first NATO summit of President Trump's second term, I do think The meeting will offer us some insight into how the administration will approach the Alliance going forward, following some of the previous criticisms we've heard of NATO and calls for Europe to do more to take greater responsibility for its own defense.'
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Trump's fear of Iran becoming ‘another Libya' stalls decision on nuke site strikes for two weeks: sources
WASHINGTON — President Trump's wariness over bombing Iran is due in part to concerns about creating 'another Libya' if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is toppled, administration insiders told The Post — as Trump shelves his decision for up to two weeks. The president in recent days has specifically mentioned the oil-rich North African country's decade-long plunge into anarchy in 2011 — after the US joined a NATO bombing campaign to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi — three sources close to the administration said. Trump 'doesn't want it to turn into Libya,' said one insider familiar with the administration's deliberations on potentially joining Israel's airstrikes against Iran's nuclear program. On Thursday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that the president was also biding his time before deciding whether to join Israel's strikes 'based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future.' Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi is expected to meet his UK, French, German, and EU counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland on Friday for talks. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff is not set to attend, Leavitt said, but noted that he's continued his own conversations with the Iranians. 6 President Trump has delayed a decision on possibly bombing Iran's nuclear sites. AFP via Getty Images One of The Post's sources said they directly heard the president say in private he was worried about Iran becoming like Libya before Israel began its aerial assault on Iran. Other sources were briefed by those who had heard him say so following the start of the conflict last week, with one source close to the administration saying he also mentioned Afghanistan and Iraq. A fifth source lacked direct knowledge of the Libya remarks, but was briefed on Trump's considerations, said the president seems most inclined to order limited airstrikes to finish off Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz with 30,000-pound 'bunker buster' bombs that can't be carried on Israeli jets. 'Libya was a much more extended kind of bombing commitment, and it ended up being regime change,' the fifth source noted. 6 Trump, who this week is overseeing White House construction projcets, including the erection of large flagpoles and the paving of the Rose Garden, has expressed concern about Iran turning into Libya. AP 'If the regime falls [in Iran], then it's not on Trump, because that's not the goal of his very limited strike.' That source mentioned concern that 'we get somebody worse than Khamenei.' 'As far as President Trump goes, he's not going to get in the business of who runs Iran, that's very salable to his base,' the source said. 6 Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ruled his country since the 1980s. If the US does successfully use bunker busters on the nuclear sites, one source close to the White House said 'there is still dealing with Iran's response' and fears of contamination or Iran retaliating through terrorism. 'He'd rather have a deal,' the source told The Post. 'There are two reasons Trump talks about Libya: the first is the chaos after what we did to Gaddafi. The second is the Libya intervention made it more difficult to negotiate deals with countries like North Korea and Iran,' said the source who heard the president directly mention the comparison. Israel's defense minister left no doubt that the Jewish state is in favor of regime change on Thursday after dubbing Iran's supreme leader 'the modern Hitler.' 'The IDF has been instructed and knows that to achieve all the objectives, without question this man should no longer continue to exist,' defense minister Israel Katz said. Hours later, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the choice of US involvement in the conflict was 'entirely' up to Trump, claiming for the first time that the Israeli military was capable of decimating the remaining Iranian nuclear facilities without American bunker-buster bombs. 'We will achieve all our objectives and hit all of their nuclear facilities. We have the capability to do that,' Netanyahu said when asked by a reporter about the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant hidden half a mile under a mountain. 6 AFP via Getty Images After Israel launched its preemptive airstrikes on Iran last week, many military experts had doubted that the Jewish state has the capabilities of taking out Fordow given how far underground it's located. Even Israel's 2,000-pound bombs, purchased from the US, had been believed to be too small. Multiple countries in the region have been torn apart by long-running civil wars involving the US — including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen — but Trump has pointed repeatedly at Libya. Libya's longtime dictator Gaddafi, who ruled 42 years and voluntarily gave up a nuclear weapon program in 2003, was toppled by domestic foes aided by the Obama administration's intervention. Khamenei similarly has ruled for a generation — with 35 years in power as supreme leader after nearly 8 years as Iran's president under the first supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. 6 Trump is considering airstrikes due to the uncertanity over whether Israel's bombs are powerful enough to collapse underground facilities. MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock In Libya, a hoped-for democratic transition gave way to a hellscape of ruthless warlords and religious extremists. Slave markets opened and Islamic State terrorists filmed themselves beheading groups of Christians on the beach. Oil production plunged and the lack of a central government prompted Africans from across the continent to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in unsafe boats. Leavitt told reporters at Thursday's White House briefing that 'the president is balancing a lot of viewpoints and he is listening not just to other world leaders, but to his advisors and to people here in the country and the American people too.' 6 Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow and Natanz could be hit in limited Trump strikes, a source told The Post. AFP via Getty Images 'Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,' she said, sharing a full statement from Trump. On regime change, Leavitt said 'the president's top priority right now is to ensuing that Iran can not attain a nuclear weapon and providing peace and stability to the Middle East.' The White House referred The Post to Leavitt's comments made during the briefing.
