WASHINGTON, July 19. /TASS/. Russia has found ways to maintain the operation of its defense industry, despite the restrictions imposed by Western countries, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted when speaking at the Aspen Security Forum.
"Now, it is also true that Russians have found walk arounds, and particularly in their relationship with North Korea, Iran and, unfortunately, with China. They have found ways to keep industrial defense base moving," he said.
When asked if the West has managed to change Russia’s behavior Blinken replied: "I think we make a mistake if we look at the question whether the sanctions succeeded solely on the question if it immediately changed the behavior [of Russia]."
But the US Secretary of State noted that the restrictions had created a "growing powerful weight on Russian economy and Russia's future."
The American top diplomat also presented a version according to which China is "providing the imports for Russian defense base." "70% of machine tools Russia imports comes from China. 90% of microelectronics come from China. And that is going into defense industrial base," he claimed.
In April, when asked by TASS to comment on the words of high-ranking American administration officials that China was allegedly helping Russia build up its defense power in connection with the special military operation in Ukraine the official representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said that China was not supplying weapons to any from the parties to the Ukrainian conflict.