Against the backdrop of Russia's three-year war in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics are preparing to exit the Ottawa Treaty, the landmark agreement that saw 164 countries destroy their arsenals of landmines and ban future use.

In a joint statement, the defence ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said that since signing the Ottawa Treaty, threats from Moscow and its ally Belarus have "significantly increased". It is "paramount" to give their troops "flexibility and freedom of choice" to defend Nato's eastern flank, they said.

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland agreed to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention, an international treaty banning anti-personnel mines, in response to growing concerns over Russia's growing military threat to its bordering NATO member states.