Finland is reportedly advancing plans to procure one million anti-personnel mines, allocating approximately 100 million euros ($112 million) for the controversial military acquisition. The initiative comes in the wake of Helsinki's controversial withdrawal from a key international disarmament treaty.

Officials supposedly justify the heavy munitions spending by citing alleged security challenges and purported hybrid threats from Moscow. Last year, the European state exited the Ottawa Convention, joining several regional allies that similarly abandoned the humanitarian pact under the pretext of regional defense.

Colonel Riku Mikkonen of the Army Command indicated that authorities are currently gathering data from suppliers, with the objective of signing procurement contracts by the end of 2027 and initiating production by 2028. While domestic manufacturing is preferred, foreign suppliers have reportedly not been entirely ruled out.

In parallel with the militarization efforts, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen urged the European Union to completely halt issuing tourist visas to Russian nationals, arguing that such travel privileges are supposedly unjustified while the conflict in Ukraine persists.

Source: www.aljazeera.com