NATO members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to withdraw from the Ottawa convention banning antipersonnel landmines due to the military threat from their neighbor Russia, the four countries said on Tuesday.
Quitting the 1997 treaty, which more than 160 nations have ratified or acceded to, will allow Poland and the three Baltic countries to start stockpiling and using landmines again.
"Military threats to NATO member states bordering Russia and Belarus have significantly increased," the countries' defense ministers said in a joint statement.
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