Finland buying a million landmines
yle.fi
The move follows Finland's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines.

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Around 100 million euros is earmarked for the acquisitions.

Preparations for the purchase began after Finland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention took effect in January, Colonel Riku Mikkonen of the Army Command told Finnish news agency STT. He said there are around half a dozen companies in the country able to make mines.

Finland reintroduced landmines due to the worsening security environment. Ahead of the decision, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called Russia a long-term threat to Finnish and European security.

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    • kolmaskommentoija ( kolmaskommentoija@sopuli.xyz ) English
      4·
      2 days ago

      In this case, it is quite obvious where those are going to be placed. It will not cause any issues, unless certain eastern neighbour starts invading again, which is the point of getting them.

      I do have to note, I am extremely sad the situation has changed so, that we need them again. But the best way to avoid war with a much bigger, aggressive neighbour state, that cannot be trusted to follow any deals, is to have enough forces, so invading would be extremely costly. Mines are cheap and effective way to halt troops crossing the border. Such a shitty world, this is.

      • DdCno1 ( DdCno1@beehaw.org ) English
        3·
        2 days ago

        There are still some risks, even without an invasion. In Ukraine for example, Russia destroyed a major dam a while ago, which caused flooding that randomly distributed mines from known and mapped mine fields in all sorts of areas. A natural disaster like a flood could cause issues in Finland too.

        • kolmaskommentoija ( kolmaskommentoija@sopuli.xyz ) English
          2·
          2 days ago

          Good point, and I do agree otherwise, but the whole long border is mostly just forest, with barely any residents or infrastructure anywhere close, especially when you go up north, which is what makes the mines so appealing. Even if some natural (or caused) disaster would happen, having some remote area full of uncharted mines, is a far smaller problem, than what not having them could cause. Also, just the knowledge we do have them, and they might be somewhere, is pretty useful in itself.