Lithuania on Saturday formally withdrew from the Ottawa Convention prohibiting the use, stockpiling, and production of anti-personnel mines.
December 27 marked exactly six months since Lithuania officially informed the United Nations Secretary-General of its withdrawal from the Mine Ban Treaty.
The Defence Ministry previously said that Lithuania will begin official talks on the acquisition or production of anti-personnel mines once its withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention takes effect.
Reuters reported in early July that Lithuania and Finland are set to start domestic production of anti-personnel landmines next year, aiming to supply themselves and Ukraine.
“We are going to spend hundreds of millions of euros on anti-tank mines, but also on anti-personnel mines. It will be a significant amount," Lithuanian Deputy Defence Minister Karolis Aleksa told Reuters at the time.
He said the country would order tens of thousands of anti-personnel landmines.
The majority of European Union member states are currently parties to the Ottawa Convention, while China, Russia, the United States, India, and Pakistan are not.
In March, the defence ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland issued a joint statement calling on their countries to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention. They were later joined by Finland.
In early May, the Lithuanian parliament voted to exit the Ottawa Convention.
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