US secretary of state says 'Russia is significantly worse off today'

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that Russia is militarily, economically and geo-politically worse off today than it was before its war in Ukraine.

Speaking at an event in the Helsinki City Hall, Finland, Blinken talked about how Russia’s war against Ukraine "has been a strategic failure."

Blinken praised the support of allies and partners to Ukraine's fight against Russia.

"Ukraine will never be Russia. Ukraine stands, sovereign, independent, firmly in control of its own destiny," said Blinken.

"There is no question, Russia is significantly worse off today than it was before its full scale invasion of Ukraine, militarily, economically, geo-politically," he added.

Rejecting Kremlin's claims, Blinken said: "We are not seeking to overthrow the Russian government, and we never have."

He said that the US administration has always been clear that they will be ready regardless of which paths Russia chooses, war or diplomacy.

"And if Russia chose war, we will do three things, support Ukraine, impose severe costs on Russia and strengthen NATO while rallying our allies and partners around these goals," said Blinken.

He reiterated that Russia's war on Ukraine has been "a strategic failure, greatly diminishing" its power, interests and its influence for years to come.

- 6G joint statement

Earlier, Blinken and his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto signed a joint statement on cooperation in 6G technology.

"With the signed statement, we aim to strengthen cooperation in 6G with the United States and to foster exchange of people and ideas in this critical sector," said Haavisto at the joint news conference with Blinken.

For his part, the US secretary of state said that the joint statement enables both governments to share best practices on developing approaches to advanced communications, creates opportunities for public-private partnerships and allows private sectors to work more closely together.

"Our vision is of a communications infrastructure where ideas can travel freely across borders, where our businesses are empowered to innovate, or intellectual property rights are respected and protected, where our critical infrastructure like our electricity grids, our hospitals are secure and resilient," said the US secretary of state.​​​​​​​