Tusk, who observed a demonstration of Polish anti-drone and other systems, said that “at this very hour” Poland was leaving the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines.
He added that work was being completed on the Bluszcz scatterable mine-laying system, calling it “key for Poland’s security, the security of Polish territory and the border.” Under the “Eastern Shield” program, Poland will soon have the capacity to mine its eastern frontier in 48 hours, he said.
The PMN Bluszcz is a manned and unmanned scatterable mine-laying vehicle developed jointly by state and private entities, including military research institutes and defense company Belma S.A.
Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said that after a planned E5 meeting in Kraków–bringing together France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland–there would be scope to build up mine-related armaments.
He said he expected Polish defense firms to “build the potential for anti-personnel mines, produce them in Poland and secure the needs of the Polish army.”
Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that Poland’s goal was deterrence, not offensive use. The country, he said, had no intention of employing mines, only of maintaining readiness “if someone were to go crazy and want to test our capabilities in this dimension.” He added that Poland would coordinate its actions with other states that have withdrawn from the Ottawa Convention.
The government announced its intention to leave the treaty at the start of 2025, and in July last year then-President Andrzej Duda signed the law denouncing it.
As part of a “regional solidarity” arrangement, other NATO eastern-flank countries–Finland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia–also quit the treaty in 2025. In late June last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on Ukraine’s withdrawal. Lithuania and Finland have declared a return to anti-personnel mine production and support for Ukraine with such weapons.
The anti-personnel mine ban treaty, known as the Ottawa Convention, was approved on Dec. 3-4, 1997 and entered into force in 1999. More than 160 states have ratified it. Poland signed the treaty in 1997 and ratified it in 2012.
(jh)
Source: PAP