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Finland's NATO vote and a war's first anniversary
Summary
A look back at 1 March 2023, when Finland's parliament approved NATO accession days after the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
What did the first week after the war's first anniversary look like from Europe? On 1 March 2023, the Finnish Parliament gave one answer: it voted 184–7 to formally approve the country's accession to NATO and to adopt the alliance's founding documents. Hungary and Turkey had yet to approve Finland's membership.
The vote came after a run of events that marked the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2023. Protests took place in countries around the world, and major landmarks were lit up. In Russia, anti-war activists were detained as protesters marked the date. A day earlier, on 23 February, pro-Ukraine protesters in Washington, D.C., had confronted visitors heading to the Russian embassy.
Diplomacy and weapons
The anniversary also had a diplomatic strand. On 24 February, China unveiled a 12-point position paper on ending the war, ahead of an expected speech by President Xi Jinping on the conflict. Ukraine said it hoped China could urge Russia to withdraw its troops in response to the paper.
Military support moved in parallel. On the same day, Poland delivered the first Leopard 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine, a step in the military aid effort for the country.
Energy on the border
On 25 February, the refiner PKN Orlen announced that Russia had suspended oil exports to Poland via the northern branch of the Druzhba pipeline. The announcement sat alongside the tank delivery and the anniversary events as another development touching Poland in the same few days.
What the week showed
Taken together, the reports from 23 February to 1 March 2023 show a conflict being addressed on several fronts at once: in the streets, through peace proposals, with armour and through alliance membership. Finland's parliamentary majority of 184 to 7 was the clearest formal decision of the period. Its accession still depended on approval from Hungary and Turkey, and that remained outstanding on 1 March 2023.
