FINLAND SEEKS 1 MILLION ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES IN €100 MILLION DEAL AMID RISING RUSSIAN THREATS

Tue 20 October 2026:

Helsinki prioritizes domestic production after exiting Ottawa Convention; EU urged to tighten visa rules on Russians

Finland is moving to acquire one million anti-personnel mines in a planned purchase worth 100 million euros ($112 million), as Nordic and Baltic states reassess defenses against Russia following their withdrawal from a key UN landmine ban.

The procurement drive follows Helsinki’s exit from the Ottawa Convention—the international treaty that seeks to eliminate anti-personnel landmines—along with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. All five countries, strong supporters of Ukraine, cited growing security risks from Moscow, which has faced repeated accusations of hybrid warfare and potential military provocations against Ukraine’s backers.

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Colonel Riku Mikkonen of the Army Command told Finland’s national news agency STT that officials are now gathering information from suppliers on the deal, according to the AFP news agency. Helsinki prefers Finnish manufacturers, aiming to sign contracts by the end of 2027 and begin production in 2028. “It would be useful in many ways if Finnish companies produced the anti-personnel mines in Finland,” Mikkonen said.

About half a dozen domestic firms meet the criteria, he told STT. “However, at this stage, buying the mines from abroad is not totally ruled out,” he added.

Finland joined the Ottawa Convention in 2012, a humanitarian agreement that has led to the destruction of more than a million such munitions worldwide. It announced its withdrawal in April 2025 amid a deteriorating security environment and ceased to be bound by the treaty in January. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has described Russia, which borders Finland to the east, as a long-term threat.

BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 27: Finland's Prime minister Petteri Orpo gives a statement during a mini summit at the Chancellery on August 27, 2026 in Berlin, Germany. Merz is meeting with EU leaders from countries, including Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland, that pay significantly more into the budget of the European Union than they receive. Merz is seeking to cut the next EU budget by several hundred billion Euros. (Photo by Michele Tantussi/Getty Images)

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has called Russia, which sits on Finland’s eastern edge, a long-term threat [File: Michele Tantussi / Getty Images]

Finland shares a roughly 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) frontier with Russia. Since Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Helsinki has strengthened its defenses and reported incidents of migrants being pushed across the border from the east.

In a related development, Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen on Monday called on the European Union to halt the issuance of tourist visas to Russian citizens until the war in Ukraine ends. “As long as Russia continues its invasion, Russian citizens should not be issued tourist visas,” she said, adding that it is “not right” for Russians to enjoy Europe’s freedoms “while their country bombs the homes of Ukrainians”.

Valtonen noted that Schengen countries issued nearly half a million tourist visas to Russians in 2025. Finland itself banned such visas in 2022 and is pressing other EU members to adopt the same policy.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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