Lithuania to decide on Ottawa Convention exit within few months - advisor

VILNIUS - Lithuania plans to decide one whether to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel mines over the course of the next few months, a presidential advisor says.

"No change for the time being, while consultations are underway both with our neighbors in the region, with our partners in the region, and with allies who could potentially arrive to our country if the need arises," Marius Cesnulevicius, the president's advisor on national security issues, told reporters after the State Defense Council meeting on Wednesday.

"When these answers are ready, the Defense Ministry and the army leadership will return to the SDC, and this is expected to happen shortly, it's a matter of one month, two months perhaps," he said.

Lithuania is considering withdrawing from the convention in order to strengthen its border with Russia in case of possible aggression. Critics, however, say anti-personnel mines could cause harm to defending forces and civilians.

The SDC discussed the issue in mid-January and made no decision. President Gitanas Nauseda says the SDC will reconsider the issue after consultations with NATO partners.

For his part, Chief of Defense General Raimundas Vaiksnoras has previously said that Lithuania's exit from the Ottawa Convention would untie the hands for the army.

Various organizations have also expressed their views on such a potential withdrawal, Cesnulevicius pointed out.

"We have a number of organizations trying to influence this process for different reasons. Some are trying to encourage the decision to be made sooner and for us to leave the Ottawa Convention. We also have organizations, like the International Committee of the Red Cross, who believe that anti-personnel landmines are evil and that we should not go back to the decision, we should not use them again," the advisor said.

All European Union countries are members of the Ottawa Convention, while China, Russia, the US, India and Pakistan are not.

Ukraine is also a member of this convention, but the document has not yet been ratified by the Verkhovna Rada and therefore does not yet have the force of law and is not being used in the ongoing war with Russia.