Poland plans to deploy anti-personnel mines on the borders with Russia and Belarus
Poland intends to deploy anti-personnel mines along its borders with Russia and Belarus as part of the Eastern Shield programme. This was announced by Polish Deputy Defence Minister Pawel Bejda.
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According to him, the situation on the border is serious, so the use of mines will become one of the key elements of the defence strategy. At the same time, Poland does not have any stocks of anti-personnel mines, but their production can be established at the factories of the Polish Armed Group. It is likely that the number of mines ordered could reach one million units.
"This will be done by the plants of the Polish Armed Group, but I don't want to go into details. We are talking about an order for several hundred thousand, we can talk about a million," Bejda explained.
This statement came against the backdrop of the decision of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, production, acquisition and storage of anti-personnel mines. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhkna explained this decision by saying that countries cannot give up defence equipment that could potentially be used against them by Russia.
The Baltic defence ministers also stressed that even after withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, they would continue to comply with international humanitarian law on the conduct of hostilities and the protection of civilians.
Source: RMF
