"Restricted the right to self-defense": the Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented on Ukraine's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine issued a clarification regarding the country's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-personnel Mines. This was reported by UNN with reference to the press service of the department.

Details

As noted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine ratified this convention in 2005 and has since dutifully complied with its provisions. At the same time, the Russian Federation, which is not a State Party to the Ottawa Convention, has been using anti-personnel mines since 2014, i.e., since the beginning of the war against Ukraine.

Since 2022, when Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its massive use of anti-personnel mines has created an asymmetric advantage for the aggressor.

At the time of Ukraine's signing and ratification of the Ottawa Convention, such circumstances were absent and could not have been foreseen. Thus, Ukraine found itself in an unequal and unfair situation that limits its right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter.

They added that Ukraine is forced to give unconditional priority to the security of its citizens and the defense of its state at a time when Russia is committing genocide with the aim of destroying Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation.

Recall

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree on Ukraine's withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines. The text of the corresponding decree is published on the website of the head of state: control over the implementation of the decision is entrusted to the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.