Ukraine officially withdraws from Ottawa landmine treaty
Ukraine's parliament has passed a bill suspending the country's participation in the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines, MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak announced on Tuesday.
The decision was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada under the bill No. 0329, halting Ukraine’s obligations under the convention, News.Az reports, citing Ukrainian media.
The vote passed by 305 deputies, with 40 abstaining, and none voting against.
On June 29, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines, a step that follows the Baltic nations and Poland's move to boost their defense amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The 1997 treaty, joined by over 160 countries, bans the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines in efforts to protect civilians from the scattered explosives that could still injure them long after the conflict is over.
"Russia has never been a party to this convention and uses anti-personnel mines extremely cynically," Zelensky said in justifying the decision. "And not only now, in the war against Ukraine. This is the signature style of Russian killers — to destroy life by all methods at their disposal."
Citing Article 20 of the Ottawa Treaty, Human Rights Watch previously stressed that it takes half a year after the state submits a notice to the United Nations for the withdrawals to come into effect, and that it is not allowed to exit the treaty if the state is still in an armed conflict at the end of that period.
Earlier in March, the Baltic states and Poland announced their intention to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, a significant shift in defense policy that shows how countries near Ukraine are preparing for a potential war in Europe.
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