Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk. File
| Photograph Credit score: AP
Poland will use antipersonnel in addition to anti-tank land mines to defend its japanese border in opposition to the rising risk from Russia, Poland’s Deputy Defence Minister informed The Related Press on Friday (February 20, 2026) because the nation formally left a global conference banning using the controversial weapons.
The 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, also called the Ottawa Conference, prohibits signatories from maintaining or utilizing antipersonnel mines, which may final for years and are recognized for having brought on large-scale struggling amongst civilians in former battle zones in nations together with Cambodia, Angola and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Poland, which ratified the doc in 2012 and accomplished the destruction of its home anti-personnel mine stockpile in 2016, withdrew from the treaty on Friday (February 20, 2026) and says it plans to resume manufacturing weapons.
“These mines are one of the necessary components of the defence construction we’re setting up on the japanese flank of NATO, in Poland, on the border with Russia within the north and with Belarus within the east,” Pawel Zalewski, Poland’s Deputy Defence Minister, stated.
He stated Poland wanted to defend itself in opposition to Russia, a rustic which “has very aggressive intentions vis a vis its neighbours” and which itself by no means dedicated to the worldwide land mine ban treaty.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, close by nations have been reassessing their participation within the worldwide treaty. Final yr, Warsaw joined Finland, the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Ukraine to announce it might depart the treaty.
Russia is one among almost three dozen nations which have by no means acceded to the Ottawa treaty, alongside america.
Poland vows to make its personal mines
Mr. Zalewski stated that Poland will start home manufacturing of each antipersonnel and anti-tank land mines, including that the federal government would cooperate with Polish producers. He stated Poland was aiming for self-sufficiency.
Land mines are an explosive weapon that is positioned on or simply below the bottom and blows up when an individual or a car crosses over them. Anti-tank mines, that are designed to not be triggered by an individual’s weight, will not be forbidden by the Ottawa Conference.
Talking on Thursday (February 19, 2026) after attending an indication of Bluszcz, an unmanned car designed to distribute anti-tank mines produced by Polish firm Belma SA and a army analysis institute, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated Poland would “quickly” have the power to mine its japanese borders inside 48 hours in case of a risk.
Given the size of the nation’s japanese borders, he stated, “rather a lot” of land mines can be wanted.
Poland says it would solely use mines in case of practical risk of Russian ‘aggression’
Poland plans to organize mine stockpiles as a part of the so-called Jap Protect, a system of enhanced fortifications Poland has been constructing on its borders with Belarus and Russia since 2024, Mr. Zalewski stated.
However he stated that Poland would solely deploy the mines alongside its borders “when there’s a practical risk of Russian aggression.” “We very a lot respect our territory and we do not need to exclude it from day after day use for the Polish residents,” Mr. Zalewski stated.
Human rights teams have condemned strikes to withdraw from the Ottawa Conference, arguing that anti-personnel mines are too harmful to civilians.
However Mr. Zalewski responded that the nation is putting a stability by maintaining the mines in reserve except the nation faces assault.
“We’re not an aggressive nation,” he stated, “however we’ve got to make use of all means to discourage Russia.”
Revealed – February 20, 2026 10:11 pm IST