Mine ban policy overview

Policy

The Russian Federation has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In December 2009, a Russian diplomat reiterated that Russia has not been able to accede due to the military utility of antipersonnel mines, the lack of viable alternatives, and the financial difficulties in destroying its large stockpile within four years.[1]

However, Russia has also expressed support for the treaty’s humanitarian objectives.[2] In June 2009, a Russian official said that Russia is committed to the objective of a mine-free world, but stressed that any prohibition must take into account national security considerations. According to the official, Russia’s accession to the Mine Ban Treaty is dependent on “solving a number of technical, financial and other tasks” related to implementation.[3] In December 2010, Russia said it “did not exclude the possibility of joining the treaty in the future,” but that this required an incremental approach.[4]

Russia attended as an observer the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November–December 2010, where it made a statement for the first time at an annual meeting for the Mine Ban Treaty. A Geneva-based disarmament diplomat delivered a statement during the session on universalization that largely mirrored the policy points noted above. The statement also emphasized that Russia was open to work with civil society and NGOs on the mine issue, giving as an example the deputy foreign minister’s letter delivered to the ICBL at the beginning of the meeting.[5] However, Russia did not participate in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the treaty in Geneva in June 2011 and May 2012, and the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in Phnom Penh in November-December 2011.

Russia is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on mines.[6] It submitted its most recent national annual report as required by Article 13 on 15 March 2012 covering the period from 2011 to 2012. Russia is also a party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Russia reports that in order to comply with Amended Protocol II, a “National System of Technical Requirements for Landmines including antipersonnel and other than antipersonnel ones was elaborated and adopted; planned disposal of obsolete landmines is underway; new, more effective types of detection and demining tools are developed and commissioned. Marking of mine fields at the national boarder of the Russian Federation is fulfilled in full compliance with Paragraph 1 of the RF Federal Law #158FZ of December 7, 2004, ‘On Ratification of Amended Protocol II.…’”[7]

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and destruction

Russia has produced at least 10 types of antipersonnel mines since 1992, including blast mines (PMN, PMN-2, PMN-4, and PFM-1S) and fragmentation mines (POMZ-2, OZM-72, MON-50, MON-90, MON-100, and MON-200). Russia has stated on several occasions that its production of blast mines stopped in 1997.[8] Russia has been conducting research on new mines, modifications to existing mines, and alternatives to mines since at least 1997.[9]

Russia has had a moratorium since 1 December 1994 on the export of antipersonnel mines that are not detectable or not equipped with self-destruct devices. The moratorium formally expired in 2002, but Russian officials have stated, most recently in June 2009, that it is still being observed.[10] Russia is not known to have made any state-approved transfers of any type of antipersonnel mine since 1994. Antipersonnel mines of Soviet/Russian origin have been found emplaced in at least 29 mine-affected countries.[11] In the first few months of 2012, the Syrian army planted landmines of Soviet/Russian origin, including PMN-2 antipersonnel mines and TMN-46 antivehicle mines, along its borders with Lebanon and Turkey.[12]

In November 2004 Russia released official information for the first time on the number of antipersonnel mines in its stockpiles, when Minister of Defense Sergei Ivanov cited a figure of 26.5 million. The minister forecast that approximately 23.5 million of these antipersonnel mines would be destroyed between 2005 and 2015.[13] At the Tenth Mine Ban Treaty Meeting of States Parties, Russia declared that it has destroyed 10 million mines, including antipersonnel mines.[14] In 2010 only, more than 464,000 antipersonnel mines that did not meet international requirements were also destroyed.[15]

Russian officials have acknowledged that Russian military units in other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States maintain antipersonnel mine stockpiles, such as 18,200 in Tajikistan and an unknown number in Georgia (Abkhazia).[16]

Use

Since 1999, Russian forces have used antipersonnel mines in Chechnya, but also at times in Dagestan, Tajikistan, and on the border with Georgia.[17] Russia has argued that its mine use has been necessary to stop flows of weapons, drugs, and terrorists, and maintained that it has been in full compliance with CCW Amended Protocol II on landmines.[18]

In June 2006, Russian officials confirmed to the Monitor that Russian forces continued to use antipersonnel mines in Chechnya, both newly-laid mines and existing defensive minefields.[19] In 2010, the Monitor ceased identifying Russia as a user of antipersonnel mines. This was the first time since the inception of the Monitor in 1999 that Russia has not been listed as a user. There have been no reported instances of mines use through October 2012.

The Russian domestic media regularly reports stories of bombings and attacks against state structures conducted by insurgent, separatist, or criminal groups in the Caucasus regions of Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, and other locations. While many reports referred to “landmines,” it appears that in most cases armed groups used command-detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs), time-delay bombs, or antivehicle mines, according to available information in media reports. The Monitor has not conclusively identified specific instances of new use of antipersonnel mines by non-state armed groups in Russia since 2007.[20]