US Secretary of State by Antony Blinken The most interesting part of Friday’s visit to Helsinki was his speech.
The expectation value of the speech was increased by Blinken’s decision to skip the press conference by the foreign minister Pekka Haaviston (green) with. Blinken also did not give comments to the Prime Minister Sanna Marini (sd.) in connection with the meeting.
Thus, the public issue of Blinken’s visit was left behind at Helsinki City Hall, where he spoke on a stage decorated with American flags. The view from the stage emphasized how the foreign minister did not arrive to speak about the cooperation between Finland and the United States, but rather the president Joe Biden from the foreign policy line.
He emphasized the following points in his speech:
1. Russia has failed in its attack
Blinken gave a longer speech than expected and ended up speaking for more than half an hour. He spent most of this time talking about Russia, from which the message was clear. According to Blinken, Russia’s attack on Ukraine has failed on all fronts.
Blinken’s list was long: the Ukrainian government is standing, the attack prompted Finland and Sweden to apply for NATO membership, Russia’s economy is in trouble and the country’s army is in poor shape. In addition, Blinken reminded that Europe has broken away from Russia’s energy dependence, the alliance relationship between Russia and China has become disproportionate, Ukraine’s national identity has strengthened and the international community has come together to support Ukraine.
Blinken’s speech was marked by the declaration that Russia has lost its reputation in the world and its status as a great power is evaporating. However, Blinken did not say that most of the world’s countries have not joined the economic sanctions against Russia or offered military aid to Ukraine.
2. Support for Ukraine continues
The United States is by far the most important military supporter of Ukraine. However, there will be a presidential election in the United States next year, and especially among Republican Party voters Ending support for Ukraine’s Vola has gradually gained more support.
Blinken did not mention the upcoming elections, but assured that supporting Ukraine still has strong support from both ruling parties in Washington, and that support is not about to be decided. According to Blinken, Putin has now pinned his hopes on the West getting tired of war. Blinken assured that this will not happen.
Regarding a possible ceasefire or peace negotiations with Ukraine, Blinken said that the United States wants peace in Ukraine, but only on fair terms. According to Blinken, only by supporting Ukraine militarily will opportunities for future diplomacy be created. Putin can’t be given a message of weakness, that by fighting he can move the borders of states, Blinken said.
3. The United States is not an enemy of the Russian people
The US foreign minister last visited Finland in 2019, when the foreign minister Mike Pompeo visited Rovaniemi for the meeting of the Arctic Council. At that time, the Russian Foreign Minister was also present Sergei Lavrov.
A long way has come in four years, because in the current situation it is impossible to imagine a meeting between the foreign ministers of the United States and Russia in Finland. However, Blinken, who arrived very close to the border between NATO and Russia, took advantage of the opportunity and addressed several parts of his speech to Russia. At one point, Blinken emphasized that he was “speaking directly to the Russians now”.
– The United States is not your enemy, Blinken said and added that the United States is not seeking a new cold war with Russia.
Blinken, however, emphasized that the Russian people can not flourish the president Vladimir Putin under the leadership, and the United States and its allies cannot allow Putin’s way of waging a bloody war against its border neighbor and at the same time trample on the democracy and human rights of its own country.
The foreign minister did not say directly that the goal of the Biden administration would be to bring about a change of power in the Kremlin, but he made it clear that under Putin’s leadership, reviving the relations between the countries is almost impossible.
Did the talks about cooperation between the USA and the Nordic countries remain for Biden?
In his speech, Blinken reviewed the familiar US positions on the future of the military alliance NATO. NATO’s open door policy continues, and Sweden’s NATO membership must be completed as soon as possible.
However, the guidelines on the development of cooperation between the Nordic countries and the United States remained mostly exhausted.
As Blinken’s speech progressed, Finland was referred to primarily through Ukraine: there are many similarities between the defensive war being fought by Ukraine and the winter war, and the Finns see the guts in the struggle of the Ukrainians, Blinken spoke.
The lack of speeches about the future of the alliance relationship between Finland and the other Nordic countries and the United States gave rise to the idea that these speeches are reserved for Blinken’s superior.
American news channel NBC already reported in April that President Joe Biden is considering a visit to Finland in mid-July around the time of the NATO summit in Vilnius. According to NBC’s sources, there are plans to organize a summit between the United States and the Nordic countries in Helsinki.
Blinken did not comment on the rumor about the summit in his speech, and Foreign Minister Haavisto neither confirmed nor denied the matter to .
– President Biden is coming to Europe, to the meeting in Vilnius, but there is nothing more to say in this context, Haavisto said.
Read also: A member of the Washington elite and a staunch defender of Ukraine – this is Antony Blinken, Visiting US Secretary of State to Finland