Finland’s Prime Minister Sanna Marin acknowledged Friday that Russia’s war in Ukraine has exposed Europe’s military weakness, such that the continent «is not strong enough.»
Marin, who is in Sydney, has made a speech in which she has indicated that the invasion of Russian troops has exposed European weaknesses and strategic mistakes. «We would be in trouble if the United States did not get involved in the war in Ukraine,» he has admitted.
«The U.S. has given a lot of weapons, a lot of financial aid and a lot of humanitarian aid. Europe is still not strong enough. We have to make sure that we are also building those capabilities in terms of European defense and the European defense industry,» he has explained in statements picked up by the Australian television, ABC.
In this sense, Marin assured that China has a real influence on Moscow, while he urged to strengthen European countries.
«I think China could play an important role in stopping the war, if it wanted to. It is up to China how it wants to act regarding the war. But we should not only rely on that, on China or anyone else… we should make sure that we are stronger,» he has asserted.
The Finnish head of government pointed out that the European continent is «too dependent» on technologies and energy from authoritarian states.
Thus, she said that democracies should build «common lifelines» to distance themselves from Moscow or Beijing, because, she warned, these «dependencies» would be «turning Western societies into weaknesses».
«In increasingly critical areas, from medical equipment to new technologies and energy, we have become too dependent on cooperation with regimes that do not share our common values,» he explained.