The government on Wednesday submitted a proposal to parliament regarding Finland's withdrawal from the Ottawa Treaty, which is a ban on the use of anti-personnel mines.

The proposal is now headed to MPs for consideration. Decoupling from the agreement requires approval by the legislature, confirmation by the president, as well as a termination notice sent to the UN Secretary-General, the government said in a statement.

More specifically, the government is proposing to end Finland's obligations under the treaty, which bans the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel mines, and also requires their destruction.

Earlier this spring, the government announced it would begin preparations for withdrawal from the treaty, citing changes to the security environment since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"Finland is not currently facing an immediate military threat. Withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention will give us the possibility to prepare for the changes in the security environment in a more versatile way," Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said in April.

Finland signed the Ottawa Convention in 2012, the last EU member state to sign onto the 1997 treaty. This spring, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland jointly announced they were withdrawing from the treaty, becoming the first countries to formally leave.