U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Western sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine are having "a profound impact."
He said in an interview with CNN at the G-7 summit in Germany on Sunday that "even as (Russia) gets oil revenues with higher prices it's unable to spend them because of the export controls."
He said: Russia "can't acquire what it needs to modernize its defense sector, to modernize its technology, to modernize its energy exploration, which means that over time each of these areas is going to go in decline."
He referred to forecasts that reckon the Russian economy will shrink by up to 15% next year.
He added that the G-7 and NATO "will continue to do collectively everything we can to make sure that the Ukrainians have what they need in their hands to repel the Russian aggression.''
