{"id":9928,"date":"2026-10-19T20:25:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T20:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=9928"},"modified":"2026-10-19T20:25:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T20:25:20","slug":"finland-seeking-one-million-land-mines-as-it-eyes-russian-threat-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=9928","title":{"rendered":"Finland seeking one million land mines as it eyes Russian threat | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Helsinki recently joined regional peers in withdrawing from the UN Charter banning munitions as it eyes its eastern border.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Published On 19 Oct 2026<\/span>19 Oct 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Finland is seeking to acquire one\u00a0million anti-personnel mines.<\/p>\n

The plan to spend 100 million euros ($112 million) on the munitions comes after Helsinki and regional peers withdrew from a United Nations compact rejecting their use.<\/p>\n

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With Moscow increasingly accused of mounting hybrid warfare against supporters of Ukraine, and possibly planning military provocations, Finland exited the Ottawa Convention<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, all also among the staunchest allies of Ukraine, also quit the agreement<\/a>, citing the potential threat from Moscow.<\/p>\n

Colonel Riku Mikkonen of the Army Command told Finland\u2019s national news agency STT that officials are now gathering information from suppliers regarding the deal, the AFP news agency reports.<\/p>\n

Helsinki would like domestic manufacturers to supply the mines, with contracts signed by the end of 2027 and production up and running by 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be useful in many ways if Finnish companies produced the anti-personnel mines in Finland,\u201d Mikkonen said.\u00a0About half a dozen Finnish firms qualify, he told STT.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, at this stage, buying the mines from abroad is not totally ruled out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

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Finland\u2019s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, left, and European Council President Antonio Costa speak ahead of a round table as part of a European Union summit in Brussels [AFP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finland joined the Ottawa Convention<\/a>, a humanitarian treaty aimed at eliminating anti-personnel landmines and destroying more than a million of them, in 2012.<\/p>\n

However, it announced that it was withdrawing in April 2025, citing a worsening security climate<\/a>, and stopped being bound by the treaty in January.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has called Russia, which sits on Finland\u2019s eastern edge, a long-term threat.<\/p>\n

Finland shares a border of roughly 1,340 kilometres (830 miles) with Russia. It has beefed up its defences since Moscow\u2019s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and reported that migrants have been pushed across from the east<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Monday urged the EU to stop issuing tourist visas<\/a> to Russians until the war ends.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as Russia continues its invasion, Russian citizens should not be issued tourist visas,\u201d she said, adding that it is \u201cnot right\u201d for Russians to enjoy Europe\u2019s freedoms \u201cwhile their country bombs the homes of Ukrainians\u201d.<\/p>\n

Valtonen noted that Schengen countries granted nearly half a million tourist visas to Russians in 2025. Finland banned such visas in 2022, and she argued the rest of the bloc should follow suit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Helsinki recently joined regional peers in withdrawing from the UN Charter banning munitions as it eyes its eastern border. Published On 19 Oct 202619 Oct 2026 Finland is seeking to acquire one\u00a0million anti-personnel mines. The plan to spend 100 million euros ($112 million) on the munitions comes after Helsinki and regional peers withdrew from a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t