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Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Finland to withdraw from anti-personnel mine ban treaty
Finland's prime minister said Tuesday the country plans to withdraw from the international treaty banning anti-personnel mines, the latest signatory moving to ditch the ban over threats from Russia. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said a fundamentally changed security environment in Europe prompted the decision by Finland -- a NATO member bordering Russia -- to pull out of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty. "Finland and Europe need to evaluate all measures to strengthen our deterrence and defence capabilities, individually and in NATO," Orpo said at a press conference. "We also propose that Finland starts to prepare for withdrawal from the Ottawa agreement," he added. The announcement comes two weeks after four other NATO countries on the military alliance's eastern flank -- Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia -- took a first step towards also quitting the treaty. All pointed to the increased security threat from Russia. Finland's parliament needs to back the government's decision, with the withdrawal going into effect six months after parliamentary approval. According to Iro Sarkka, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, the move from the Finnish government signalled that Finland -- which became a NATO frontline country when it joined the alliance in 2023 -- was ready to use all means to protect its national security, even if it meant compromising on international law. "While it is not the optimal solution from the viewpoint of international law, it will maximise military capability, and it is a cost-effective solution that maximises Finland's security," she told AFP. Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia, and has been ramping up its defence and border security since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In the wake of the invasion, the Nordic country dropped decades of military non-alignment and applied for NATO membership. Finland shut its eastern border with Russia in mid-December 2023 after the arrival of around 1,000 migrants without visas, with Helsinki claiming the surge was orchestrated by Russia -- a claim Moscow denied. Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told reporters Finland was committed to its humanitarian responsibilities and the responsible use of mines, as well as to international agreements, but added: "Unfortunately, we have a neighbour who does not respect international agreements". - Eastern flank - Lithuanian Defence Minister Dovile Sakaliene welcomed Finland's plan to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty, saying in a Facebook post it was "a clear sign that the region is serious about strengthening defence and deterrence". "The long-awaited and negotiated regional decision is now complete -- NATO countries bordering Russia are taking all the necessary measures to ensure that never again will the dirty boot of a Russian soldier cross our border," she said. Sarkka said the five countries' announcements of preparing an exit from the Ottawa Treaty indicated that "NATO's frontline countries are converging in terms of their defence policy in relation to Russia". The Ottawa Treaty prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. More than 160 countries and territories are party to the treaty, including Ukraine. Neither the United States nor Russia are signatories. Finland abandoned anti-personnel mines in 2012 when it joined the treaty, and subsequently destroyed more than a million mines. Orpo also said that Finland would boost its defence spending to at least three percent of GDP by 2029 and launch a reform of its defence forces to tackle a deteriorating security situation. "With these solutions, we will ensure that Finland's defence is in good shape for years to come. I am very pleased that these solutions have broad parliamentary support," he said. ank/jll/jhb
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump said Ukraine is 'more difficult to deal with' than Russia — that might be about to change
Over the course of a tumultuous few weeks of talks, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed his frustration with Kyiv. On March 7, Trump declared that he finds it "more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine" than Russia. Yet, after weeks of strong-arming Ukraine into submission, the Trump administration is yet to ask Russia for a single concession, and real negotiations with the Kremlin have yet to actually begin. According to experts who spoke to the Kyiv Independent, some of them with direct experience of diplomatic dealings with Moscow, the reality of coming up against Russian President Vladimir Putin in talks may come as a shock to Trump. "I think (Putin) probably sees Trump as a useful idiot who is helpful in promoting his agenda," Ryhor Nizhnikau, a Russia expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told the Kyiv Independent. Nizhnikau expects the Kremlin to reject the proposed ceasefire and come back with counter-proposals in an attempt to draw out the negotiating process, putting forward what he describes as "a lot of dangerous ideas." Kyiv and Washington on March 11 emerged from talks in Saudi Arabia in agreement over a ceasefire proposal, as well as the resumption of U.S. military aid and intelligence sharing. After the negotiations with Washington, Ukraine announced that it was ready to accept a 30-day-long ceasefire if Russia also complied with it. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later said the "ball is in (Russia's) court," adding if the Kremlin rejects the ceasefire proposal, "then we'll, unfortunately, know what the impediment is to peace here." There had been no official response from the Kremlin, and even state TV propagandists had been largely silent on the matter. "The Russians will definitely reject the ceasefire." Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov when asked by journalists about the proposal gave an evasive answer, saying they were "getting a little ahead of yourselves." "The Russians will definitely reject the ceasefire," Nizhnikau said. "They cannot accept it because they say it's Washington's plan.' Previous statements from Kremlin officials give an indication of what Russia is likely to demand. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Feb. 17 there could be "no thought of" territorial concessions, suggesting Russia may well demand Ukraine withdraw from areas of the four oblasts — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk — it illegally annexed in 2022 despite not fully controlling. Although Kyiv may be forced to agree to some sort of territorial concessions, it has previously rejected a full withdrawal from all four oblasts. Putin, however, said such a move would be a prerequisite for peace talks. How Russia's latest territorial demands will be met by Washington remains to be seen but Ambassador Kurt Volker, who served as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations in 2017-2019 and U.S. ambassador to NATO in 2008-2009, said it's likely that Trump will have anything but an easy time. "They're giving Putin everything." "I think he has some kind of belief that Putin has limited and reasonable demands, which is not the case. Putin has unlimited demands," he said. Volker believes that as negotiations continue and Trump's stated aim of a swift end to war moves further away, he will become "very disappointed in Putin" because he "keeps moving the goalposts and upping the ante." Read also: Temporary ceasefire or redrawing borders? What 'territorial concessions' mean to Ukraine, Russia, and the US There is also a self-inflicted wound that hobbles the U.S. as it enters talks in earnest with Russia — the Trump administration has already thrown away some of its strongest cards. The White House has ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine and insisted it makes territorial concessions, with the return to pre-2014 and even pre-2022 borders taken off the table. "They're giving Putin everything," Michael McFaul, former U.S. Ambassador to Russia and professor of international studies at Stanford University, told the Kyiv Independent. "It's just like diplomacy 101 — in any negotiation, you don't start by giving away all your strongest cards before the negotiation has started. And that's what it looks like the Trump team is doing." McFaul said that Russia will have been emboldened by these concessions and will now simply demand more from the negotiating process. "They just put it in their pocket, and they say, 'Well, what are you going to give us now?' That's their strategy. And they sit quietly, and they wait," he said. "It's an incredibly bad negotiating strategy on behalf of the Trump team." McFaul added that the original maximalist aims of Putin's full-scale invasion — the "demilitarization" of Ukraine and the removal of President Volodymyr Zelensky — are very much still on the table, in large part because the U.S. has been agreeing with Russia and its demands. "It's an incredibly bad negotiating strategy on behalf of the Trump team," McFaul added. What the U.S. could do, or would be prepared to do, in order to impose Ukraine's demands for a satisfactory peace upon a maximalist Russia remains to be seen, but Trump on March 12 appeared upbeat. Following announcing that he might speak with Putin this week, Trump emphasized the need to engage with Russia, expressing hope that Putin would also agree and that negotiations could move forward. "It takes two for tango, as I have already said, so I hope he (Putin) will also agree as well, and I really think that would be 75% of the way, the rest is getting it documented," he said. "Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it… hopefully, we'll be able to wipe out a deal," he added. But McFaul points out another potential impediment to the Trump team's success — experience. "Lavrov's been at this for over two decades, he's pretty good at it. Rubio just started in this job a few weeks ago. And, you know, maybe he's just trying to figure out how to do this," he said. Regardless of whether or not U.S. negotiators can step up, for Russian-born columnist and political commentator Sergei Parkhomenko, negotiations and any thoughts of a genuine peace process are wishful thinking. "Putin needs this war," he told the Kyiv Independent. "He needs this war for its own sake more than he needs a victory in it, more than he needs Ukraine and more than he needs anything else. "For him, war is a way of life, a method of governing the country, a way of maintaining himself in power. Therefore, real peace directly contradicts his political interests." Read also: Ukraine struggles to hold on in Kursk Oblast as Russia strikes back before peace talks We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
