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US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has denounced the cooperation extended by North Korea, Iran and China to Russia amidst its war in Ukraine, noting that doing so was "not good" for the reputation of these countries.
"It's not particularly good for your reputation to be working closely with Russia and helping it perpetuate its war in Ukraine," Blinken said in his remarks during a forum hosted by the Aspen Strategy Group on July 19. The US has frequently expressed its concerns over a growing military alignment between North Korea and Russia and China's purported support for Russia's defence industrial base. In a fireside chat moderated by National Public Radio host, Blinken was asked whether sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and other European nations actuall worked and did it prompt Russian President Vladimir Putin "to behave better?" The US Secretary of State in his response stated that the US had brought countries together and "added collectively to the pressure on Russia." "It means that everything that so many countries around the world can do easily, it's much harder for them to do. Everything that we can do cheaply, it's much more costly for them to do. And this has a growing, powerful weight on Russia's economy and on Russia's future," Blinken said. The US Secretary noted that a combination of sanctions, export controls and brain drain from Russia have contributed to impose a "heavier and heavier weight" on Moscow. "Now, it's also true the Russians have found workarounds, and particularly in their relationship with North Korea, with Iran, and unfortunately with China, they have found ways to keep the defence industrial base moving so that they can continue to prosecute the aggression against Ukraine," Blinken said. China, said the US Secretary, posed a challenge because Beijing unlike North Korea and Iran did not give weapons to Moscow but provided inputs for Russia's defence industrial base. "Seventy per cent of the machine tools that Russia is importing come from China. Ninety per cent of the microelectronics come from China. And that's going into the defence industrial base and turning into missiles and tanks and other weapons," Blinken said. The US Secretary of Defence also said that the US and other countries have called out China and imposed sanctions on Chinese companies. "China can't have it both ways. It can't all at once be saying that it's for peace in Ukraine when it is helping to fuel the ongoing pursuit of the war by Russia. It can't say that it wants better relations with Europe when it is actually helping to fuel the greatest threat to Europe's security since the end of the Cold War," Blinken said. (ANI)
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