Finnish technology conglomerate Insta said on Friday it is interested in producing anti-personnel land mines in Finland once the Finnish government leaves the international mine ban treaty.
NATO member Finland said on Tuesday it plans to quit the Ottawa Treaty, a global convention banning anti-personnel land mines, citing a long-term danger from neighboring Russia to all of Europe.
By leaving the treaty, Finland, which guards NATO's longest border with Russia, could start stockpiling land mines.
Insta, a private automation and defense technology company, is one of the first companies to signal interest in producing land mines that have been broadly banned by the treaty.
"If the decision is taken that we as a nation permit land mines again, of course we want to look from that point forward how we can be involved in the context of our strategic partnership," Insta CEO Tapio Kolunsarka told Reuters, adding that the company has not yet made a decision on land mine production.
The company already is already developing a remotely-detonated "bounding mine" for the Finnish army after it leaves the treaty.
Poland and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said last month they would also withdraw from the 1997 Ottawa convention due to threats posed by Russia.
Anti-land mine campaigners say the move is a “devastating step backwards.”
By leaving the treaty, Finland, which guards NATO's longest border with Russia, could start stockpiling land mines.
Insta, a private automation and defense technology company, is one of the first companies to signal interest in producing land mines that have been broadly banned by the treaty.
"If the decision is taken that we as a nation permit land mines again, of course we want to look from that point forward how we can be involved in the context of our strategic partnership," Insta CEO Tapio Kolunsarka told Reuters, adding that the company has not yet made a decision on land mine production.
The company already is already developing a remotely-detonated "bounding mine" for the Finnish army after it leaves the treaty.
Poland and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said last month they would also withdraw from the 1997 Ottawa convention due to threats posed by Russia.
Anti-land mine campaigners say the move is a “devastating step backwards.”
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