According to Hakkanen, who was one of the main guests of the Helsinki Security Forum on Friday, most will be traditional anti -personnel mines. They are intended, for example, to break the tire of a circular vehicle or damage to the body part of the person who stepped on it. However – as he noted – more intelligent, more advanced solutions in the range of min.
“However, the faces will not be placed anywhere in the room,” he assured.
According to the minister, despite the fact that Finland has great defense potential, it is important that it does not even become an object of an attack. – NATO's strength is the ultimate deterrent factor that keeps Russia away from our territory, and hybrid activities are completely different than a military challenge – summed up Hakkanen.
Continued article under video material
A breakthrough decision from June
Finland's parliament decided on termination of the Treaty from Ottawa prohibiting, among others use and production of anti -personnel mines in June. According to the Finnish armed forces, the restoration of anti -personnel mines to the basic catalog of armament of the army “is not a choice only for technical reasons, but a strategic tool for strengthening the defense of Finland, and the psychological effect (i.e. deterrent to mines), cannot be replaced by other systems.” In addition, “the long land border with Russia (about 1300 km) was emphasized at that time, it makes Finland particularly susceptible to large -scale attacks.”
Finland joined the Ottawa Convention in 2012 as one of the last countries in the EU. Since then, the Finns have destroyed together Over 1 million pieces of mines forbidden in stock. Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland also decided on the termination of the Treaty, in the “framework of the Regional Agreement” of the rule on the eastern flank.
