The most mined countries in the world. The Russians even put mines in children's beds
This text was published on Newsweek Romania on April 18.
Every day civilians, including children, are injured or killed by landmines laid by aggressor states. The Russians have even planted landmines in children's beds and household appliances. But three countries are the most mined in the world.
Which are the most mined countries in the world. The Russians have even planted mines in children's beds
The phenomenon has become the biggest problem for Ukraine, where more than 1,150 civilians have fallen victim to mines since the start of Russia's large-scale invasion. Similar tragedies are occurring in Azerbaijan and Algeria. Meanwhile, five European countries have announced their withdrawal from the 1997 Ottawa treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, sparking fears that the number of mined areas in the EU could increase.
On April 7, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) announced that Ukraine has become the most mine-contaminated country in the world. About 30% of its territory - some 174,000 square kilometers - is infested with two million landmines laid by Russia.
On the same day, in the Sumy region of eastern Ukraine (which borders three Russian regions, including Kursk), a 13-year-old boy triggered a mine explosion by accidentally stepping on an unknown object. He is in critical condition and doctors are fighting to save his life.
More than 1,150 Ukrainian civilians, including children, have been injured by landmines since the start of the large-scale Russian invasion. The Russian army is planting landmines everywhere - in fields, forests, roads, homes, household objects and even children's toys.
"The Russians mined household appliances: electric kettles, microwaves, washing machines. There were even cases where children's beds were booby-trapped - a grenade without a pin was found between mattresses. You lift the mattress and the explosion takes place," said Oleksandr Bondarenko, a safety instructor at the mines in the Cernihiv region.
Beyond the constant threat to civilians, widespread mine contamination is preventing refugees from returning home, making farming impossible and blocking the country's reconstruction.
In 2023, Ukraine's former defense minister Oleksii Reznikov said that it would take 5,000 specialists and at least 30 years of work to completely demining Ukraine. The situation is complicated by the fact that the exact positions of the mines are unknown - they could be virtually anywhere.
Landmine terror: from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea
On April 6, the day before the Ukrainian teenager was injured by a mine in Ukraine, four more people were seriously injured by mines in Azerbaijan - another post-Soviet country facing this deadly legacy. The victims include a 13-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, both with multiple injuries to their hands and legs. Another man had to have a leg amputated.
For nearly three decades, a fifth of Azerbaijan's territory was occupied by Armenia, backed militarily, diplomatically and financially by Russia. During the occupation, Armenia installed around 1.5 million landmines in the region. After the Second Karabakh War in 2020, Azerbaijan regained control over most of the occupied territories. However, Armenia continued to plant landmines in the parts of Karabakh still under its control even after the cessation of hostilities, under the indulgent eyes of the Russian military contingent, officially present in the region as peacekeepers. In 2022, in the Lacin district of Azerbaijan, landmines left by Armenian troops before their withdrawal were discovered. The "mine terror" scenarios practiced by Yerevan and Moscow are virtually identical.
Since the end of the war in 2020, more than 390 people have fallen victim to landmines in Azerbaijan. The costly and time-consuming process of demining is being hampered by Yerevan's refusal to provide accurate maps of minefields. The maps provided so far are only 25% accurate - for every one safe step a minefielder takes, there are three potentially fatal steps. Experts estimate that complete demining will take about 30 years and cost around $25 billion.
The 'mine line' in Algeria
Two days before the incidents in Ukraine and Azerbaijan, the UN Human Rights Council unanimously adopted a resolution to ban the use of landmines, initiated by Algeria and supported by 20 other countries, including Azerbaijan. The adoption of the resolution symbolically coincided with the International Day for Mine Awareness, and Algeria knows the threat all too well.
Between 1956 and 1962, during Algeria's War of Independence, France laid 11 million mines along the country's eastern and western borders. In Africa, this area is still known today as the 'Mine Line'. Farah Chibane, a journalist with Horizons, writes that "millions of mines have claimed tens of thousands of Algerians".
"The border areas, densely mined and surrounded by barbed wire, continue to victimize and maim hundreds of Algerians living there. Despite Algeria's constant efforts to clear the mines, remove obstacles and restore the land, the threat remains. France still refuses to acknowledge its responsibility and to provide accurate maps of the minefields," reported Algeria's TV1 on March 1.
France officially handed over the minefield maps to Algeria only in 2007, more than 40 years after the end of the war. But Algerian experts have argued that the maps are useless because of natural changes in the landscape.
Europe could become even more mined
Despite international consensus on the deadly risks of anti-personnel landmines, the constant threat from Russia has prompted Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Finland to announce their withdrawal from the 1997 Ottawa Treaty. The move reflects the determination of the five states to protect their borders against Russian aggression, especially as Moscow has begun redeploying troops withdrawn from Syria to its western borders near the Baltic states.
The experience of planting millions of mines by Russia, Armenia and France clearly shows that this strategy has no beneficiaries. Wherever the mines are laid, it is civilians and children who suffer most - not soldiers or sabotage groups.
Author - Nickolay Yakovenko