Lithuania completes withdrawal from Ottawa Convention

Lithuania formally completed its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention, the international treaty that prohibits the use, stockpiling, and production of anti-personnel landmines.

According to public broadcaster LRT, December 27 marked exactly six months since Lithuania officially notified the UN Secretary-General of its decision to leave the convention, a period required for the withdrawal to take effect.

Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defence has previously stated that once the withdrawal entered into force, the country would begin negotiations on the possible purchase or domestic production of anti-personnel landmines. In early July, it was reported that Lithuania and Finland were planning to launch the production of such mines next year, both to meet their own defence needs and to supply Ukraine.

At the time, Lithuanian Deputy Defence Minister Karolis Aleksa said the government expected to spend “hundreds of millions of euros” on mine procurement, covering not only anti-tank mines but also anti-personnel mines. He noted that plans envisaged the acquisition of tens of thousands of anti-personnel mines or more.

Most European Union member states remain parties to the Ottawa Convention. By contrast, several major military powers—including China, Russia, the United States, India, and Pakistan—have never joined the treaty.

Calls for withdrawal from the convention gained momentum in March, when the defence ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland issued a joint statement urging their countries to leave the agreement. Finland later aligned itself with that position. In May, Lithuania’s parliament, the Seimas, formally approved the country’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention.

The Ottawa Convention, formally titled the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines, was adopted in 1997 and entered into force in 1999. It bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines, and requires states parties to destroy existing stockpiles and clear mined areas under their jurisdiction. The treaty also obliges signatories to assist landmine victims through medical care, rehabilitation, and social reintegration, and to support international mine-clearance efforts. Compliance is overseen through transparency reporting and regular review conferences.

More than 160 countries are currently parties to the convention, although several key military powers remain outside the treaty framework.

By Tamilla Hasanova