Lithuania to withdraw from the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention

Lithuania will withdraw from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines — this decision was made by the countryʼs parliament.

This was reported by the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT.

107 MPs voted in favor of withdrawing from the convention. Three abstained, and no one voted against. For Lithuania to withdraw from the convention, the support of at least 85 MPs was required.

Withdrawal from the convention will take effect six months after the parliamentʼs decision.

The Ottawa Convention was signed by 164 countries in 1997. The participating states pledged never to use, develop, produce or transfer anti-personnel mines, and to destroy all their stockpiles. Ukraine ratified it on 27 December 2005, becoming a participating state on 1 June 2006. At the time of signing, Ukraine had the fifth largest arsenal of anti-personnel mines in the world, behind only China, Russia, the USA and Pakistan. They, like India, did not join the treaty.

In March 2025, the defense ministers of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland recommended that their governments withdraw from the convention. They noted that the security situation in the region had “significantly deteriorated” and that military threats to NATO countries bordering Russia and Belarus had “significantly increased”.

Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had already admitted in early 2024 that they might withdraw from the treaty in order to strengthen their defenses against potential Russian aggression. As a result, the countries decided to increase their stockpiles of anti-personnel mines. In mid-April, the Latvian parliament supported the withdrawal from the convention.

• In early March 2025, Lithuania withdrew from the Convention on the Prohibition of Cluster Munitions due to the threat from Russia. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also spoke about his intention to withdraw from the conventions on the prohibition of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions.

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