[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 62 (Thursday, April 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2084-S2085]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
MORNING BUSINESS
______
RUSSIAN LANDMINES
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, among the many barbaric atrocities
committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine where civilian infrastructure
including hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings have been
repeatedly bombed and shelled and countless civilians have been
summarily executed in the streets, the New York Times reports today
that the Russians are using a new kind of landmine.
This mine, called the POM-3, is inherently indiscriminate like other
mines in that it cannot distinguish between a civilian and a combatant,
and it is apparently equipped with a sensor that triggers the explosive
when a person approaches. With a kill radius of 50 feet, it is even
more deadly than a typical anti-personnel mine. And, unlike typical
landmines, it cannot be disarmed by a human deminer because anyone who
approaches it is likely to become a victim before reaching it. So it
will be necessary to use robots to clear these mines, at great
additional time and expense. As in other countries affected by armed
conflict, it will be many years and almost certainly decades after the
fighting ends, before the people of Ukraine can walk safely without
fear of mines and other unexploded ordnance.
Human beings seem to have an unlimited capacity to devise new ways of
destroying the lives of others. Landmines are especially insidious
because they maim or kill whoever comes into contact with them, or, in
the case of the POM-3, whosever's footsteps it detects. It could be
anyone, including a young child.
No matter how ``sophisticated'' the technology, mines are an
exceedingly primitive weapon because they are designed to be
indiscriminate in an age of so-called precision munitions.
Mines are the opposite. While landmines are so easy to make that it
will never be possible to completely eliminate them, in 1997, the
international community took an historic step, thanks in large part to
the leadership of former Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy and
the tireless advocacy of the International Campaign to Ban landmines.
In December of that year, countries came together to sign the
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and
Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, known
informally as the Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty. Today, the
treaty has 164 states parties. But one of the reasons anti-personnel
mines have yet to be universally stigmatized is because key countries
including Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and the United States have
not joined the treaty.
Of course, when one country joins a treaty, it does not guarantee
that others will. But the more countries that do, the harder it is for
others to fail to do so, as they become the outliers, the pariahs. So
if the United States, which has not used anti-personnel mines since
1991, were to join the treaty it would not guarantee that Russia would.
But it would greatly enhance our credibility to call out their use of
mines, their devastating effects on innocent civilians, and the need to
universalize the treaty.
In 1994, President Clinton, at the United Nations, called for ridding
the world of anti-personnel mines. He also directed the Pentagon to
develop alternatives. They never did. While we can drive a robot on
Mars 100 million miles away, our own military continues to stockpile
landmines that are triggered by the victim. Whether a U.S. soldier or a
child, our landmines, like Russian landmines, cannot tell the
difference.
If anything good can come of this catastrophic and senseless war in
Ukraine, it would be for the international community to bring to
justice those responsible for war crimes and for the United States to
once and for all renounce the use of anti-personnel landmines. These
are not weapons that belong in the arsenals of civilized nations and
certainly not in the arsenal of the most powerful, modern military on
Earth. Let us be the country that not only denounces their use in
Ukraine, but denounces and renounces their use everywhere. What a gift
to the world that would be.
I ask unanimous consent that the New York Times article entitled
``New Russian Land Mine Poses Special Risk in Ukraine'' be printed in
the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From The New York Times, April 6, 2022]
New Russian Land Mine Poses Special Risk in Ukraine
(By John Ismay)
Washington--Russian forces in Ukraine appear to be using a
new type of weapon as they step up attacks on civilian
targets: an advanced land mine equipped with sensors that can
detect when people walk nearby.
Ukrainian bomb technicians discovered the device, called
the POM-3, last week near the eastern city of Kharkiv,
according to Human Rights Watch, a leading human rights
group, which has reviewed photos provided by Ukraine's
military.
Older types of land mines typically explode when victims
accidentally step on them or disturb attached tripwires. But
the POM-3's seismic sensor picks up on approaching footsteps
and can effectively distinguish between humans and animals.
Humanitarian deminers and groups that campaign against the
use of land mines said the POM-3 would make future efforts to
locate and destroy unexploded munitions in Ukraine vastly
more complicated and deadlier.
``These create a threat that we don't have a response
for,'' said James Cowan, who leads the HALO Trust, a British
American charity that clears land mines and other explosive
remnants of war to help countries recover after conflicts.
The group began removing unexploded munitions from the Donbas
region of eastern Ukraine in 2016, after Russian-backed
separatists started fighting the Ukrainian government.
``We'll need to find some donors to procure robotics that
can allow us to deal with these threats at some distance,''
Mr. Cowan added.
The POM-3 is typically launched by a rocket and falls back
to earth by parachute before sticking into the ground--where
it waits, according to CAT-UXO, an online resource for
military and civilian bomb technicians. When the mine senses
a person, it launches a small explosive warhead that
detonates midair, producing fragments that are lethal up to
about 50 feet away.
Mr. Cowan, a retired British Army major general, said his
staff of 430 Ukrainians clearing unexploded munitions in
Donbas had been unable to continue working since Russia
launched a full invasion of the country in late February,
with many staff members temporarily relocating in Ukraine. He
anticipates that in the future, HALO's operation across the
country will require about 2,500 workers, given that many
areas outside Donbas are now contaminated with unexploded
munitions as well.
U.S. government officials have said Russia appears to be
moving troops to consolidate its hold on Donetsk and Luhansk,
which could mean that even more weapons like the POM-3 will
be used in the war.
``The war is entering a static phase--trenches are being
dug,'' Mr. Cowan said. ``This is the time when I would expect
the Russians to start using land mines on a massive basis.''
HALO, which stands for Hazardous Area Life-Support
Organization, has about 10,000 employees around the world and
is among the few international nonprofits that have remained
in Afghanistan since the Taliban took control of Kabul, the
capital, in August. Mr. Cowan said the future cleanup in
Ukraine would require roughly the same number of workers as
HALO's current operation in Afghanistan, which is recovering
from decades of armed conflict.
The POM-3 is just one new hazard among many that his
organization expects to encounter, in addition to an untold
number of rockets, bombs and artillery shells that failed to
detonate on impact. Russia has also attacked Ukrainian arms
depots, causing fires and explosions that typically fling
hundreds or even thousands of damaged munitions into
surrounding areas.
Once widely used around the world, antipersonnel land mines
often kill and maim civilians long after hostilities have
ceased. Ukraine is one of the 164 nations that have signed a
1997 treaty banning the use of antipersonnel land mines and
pledged to purge their stockpiles. The United States and
Russia have refused to join it.
[[Page S2085]]
The treaty does not prohibit the use of antitank land
mines--which typically have a much larger explosive charge
and are designed to detonate only when a vehicle drives over
or near them--nor does it address improvised explosive
devices built to destroy vehicles. Videos posted on social
media purport to show both antitank mines and improvised bomb
attacks on Russian vehicles in Ukraine.
Russia's use of land mines was among the discussions at an
event on Tuesday on Capitol Hill for the United Nations'
international mine awareness day, which brought together
groups that focus on the issue and lawmakers from Congress's
Unexploded Ordnance/Demining Caucus.
``Wars end, they stay,'' Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat
of Vermont, said of land mines and unexploded munitions.
``The targets are invariably civilians, and they are in
places where you have a limited ability to provide lifesaving
medical care.''
``Look at what's happening in Ukraine--Russia is placing
land mines in people's homes, as well as children's
playgrounds and places where people go,'' Mr. Leahy said.
``That's using it as a weapon of terror.''
____________________