In a joint statement published March 18, 2025, the defense ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia recommended that their countries withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, which bans the use of antipersonnel mines. That same day, Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Bejda told RMF FM radio that Warsaw intends to start producing them.
Discussing the topic with “Budni” host and commentator Vadim Shepet on March 20, 2025, during a broadcast on Alfa Radio and SB TV, Vadim Gigin explained why he believes Poland wants to mine the border with Belarus.
“Why are they mining the border? Just think about it! They’re not laying mines to blow up animals, but to kill people! Migrants. They’re not mining it to stop our 6th or 11th brigade from launching a tank offensive. No. They’re mining it to stop migrants. So that living human beings—who are coming at their invitation, or Germany’s (Germany never withdrew Angela Merkel’s invitation, so people keep coming)—get blown up.”
Polish Deputy Defense Minister Pawel Bejda, responding to a question about why the country wants to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, said Warsaw has no choice:
“The situation at the border is serious. I’m talking about the Polish-Belarusian and Polish-Russian borders. … This will be one element of the ‘Eastern Shield.’ I want to say that we have concerns—bordering on certainty—that Belarus is following Russia’s lead. Whatever Putin says, Lukashenko agrees. Take note of where the attack on Ukraine came from. From Belarus. We don’t have any antipersonnel mines, but we do have the capability to produce them.”
In May 2024, former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Poland should withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty and lay mines along parts of its eastern border.
“For real fortifications, we need mined sections along the border so the aggressor knows that no tank division will just break through—won’t roll in like they did in Ukraine in the early days, on February 24, 2022.”
Current Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded by saying there were no plans to mine the border or push for changes to international law on the issue. However, nearly a year later, in March 2025, he said Poland “will use every available option to strengthen its defense.”