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Finland's NATO question and Mariupol's corridor
Summary
A look back at two developments reported around 2 April 2022, one on European security policy and one on humanitarian access.
What did Finland's leadership signal about NATO on 2 April 2022? Prime Minister Sanna Marin said a decision on joining the alliance had to be made before that summer, and she said Russia was not the neighbour Finland had thought it was. The statement placed a firm timeline on a question that, in the reports of the time, was framed as part of the enlargement of NATO.
The remark was a statement of intent about timing rather than a decision. Marin's comments did not say what the outcome would be, only that the choice could not wait beyond the summer.
The Mariupol corridor
A second development had been reported two days earlier. On 31 March 2022, Russia's Ministry of Defence said its forces would again open a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia the next day, 1 April. It said this was at the request of the leaders of France and Germany.
Taken together, the two reports show how the war was shaping decisions well beyond Ukraine's borders: in Helsinki, on the alliance question, and in diplomatic requests from Paris and Berlin concerning civilians in Mariupol.
