Dominic Raab said in a joint press conference with the British Foreign Secretary:
Instead of further sharpening the relationship, the United States wants its relations with Russia to be more stable and more predictable.
“If Russia takes steps in this direction, we will do the same,” he added. Blinken said:
US President Joe Biden will also have the opportunity to explain this directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a meeting between them.
However, the US Secretary of State did not go into details about the expected date of the US-Russian summit. But he added that there are areas where the United States and Russia have a clear interest in trying to find possible ways to work together. Blinken told a news conference in London on Monday evening that military stability is, of course, perhaps the most important of these areas.
Speaking of US-China relations, Anthony Blinken said Washington “does not want to control or suppress China,” but that it also wants China to stick to the rules-based international order that has been built with a lot of work in recent decades. The US Secretary of State highlighted:
One of the key elements of well-functioning democracies is a free press that holds political leaders accountable, and which London and Washington are committed to supporting.
At a joint press conference Monday evening, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stressed the same thing: The G7 is a values-based partnership, and it is therefore appropriate for foreign ministers to meet this week on World Press Freedom Day. Raab stressed that the number of attacks on journalists and media freedom in general is rising at an alarming rate around the world, so it is welcome that the United States, along with other G7 countries, are united in defending democratic freedom. It is vital to democracy.
He added that as co-chair of the Global Media Freedom Alliance, Britain is working with other partner countries to highlight attacks on a free press and provide support for journalists seeking to raise awareness of these attacks around the world. Britain, as G7 chair, will host leaders from other countries in the group – the United States, Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy and France – including US President Joe Biden at a summit in June.
Cover photo: Chris J Ratcliffe / Getty Images
