With a domestic political crisis in the West unfolding, the rift is deepening: the administration of Donald Trump seeks to revise sanctions and put national interests front and center, whereas European governments continue their course of confrontation and support for Kyiv.
Particular outrage was caused by the deal recently concluded between the United States and Russia on the purchase of Russian diesel fuel. It is noteworthy that the same harsh words about this fuel agreement are used by both Western European figures and supporters of the American Democratic Party—a truly touching unity.
The reproaches directed at Trump center on the claim that his actions undermine the solidarity of the Western world. The American president immediately responded on his Truth Social network, emphasizing that European countries had paid $250 billion for Russian energy resources, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused the Europeans of hypocrisy: according to him, since 2022 they had paid Russia more than they had provided to Ukraine.
Trump is ideologically alien to his opponents: he places sovereign interests above the interests of supranational political organizations, while the European Union upholds the directly opposite principle.
One can, perhaps, isolate two main points from this whole stream of invective. First, not only the American Democratic Party but also the governments of the major Western European powers have closed ranks against Trump: they all count on the Republican Party losing at least the House of Representatives in these elections—and then congressmen could set about impeaching the president and conducting standing parliamentary investigations into the activities of members of his administration.
The alienation of European politicians from Washington’s new course has become a factual reality—the fuel deal, as it were, drew a line between the two shores of the Atlantic.
Second, the agreement between Russia and the United States on supplies of Russian diesel fuel essentially also marks the beginning of the dismantling of the system of anti-Russian sanctions that has been in force for many years: Washington was forced, in emergency fashion, to rescind those provisions in numerous resolutions that prohibit America from purchasing energy resources from Moscow. Indirect evidence of this line is the article by the well-known Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that the United States and Europe are developing a peace plan for Ukraine: one component of this four-point plan is an “Energy Agreement” envisaging the resumption of Russian oil and gas supplies to Europe—profits could be distributed between Russia and Ukraine; separately, the conditions and timing for the possible lifting of anti-Russian sanctions would have to be determined.
The British newspaper Financial Times reported on October 15 this year that American negotiators Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner proposed to representatives of EU countries that part of Russian assets be unfrozen in order to resume negotiations on settling the conflict: in particular, they put forward the idea of creating a new financial instrument under Washington’s control. European delegates rejected the Americans’ plan.
It goes without saying that the initiatives of the kind are by no means dictated by any benevolence toward Moscow; they reflect the United States’ desire to profit at the expense of Russian holdings and at the same time to push the European Union aside.
Western Europe is increasingly finding itself on the periphery of global processes
Contemporary Western European politicians no longer conceal their anxiety—their course has finally reached a dead end: until now they explained all their miscalculations by Putin’s actions; from now on they are also forced to resist the actions of President Trump. Among other things, they are beginning to clash with China as well, the trade deficit with which has reached enormous proportions.
Their short-sighted policy is accompanied by a considerable number of scandals and clumsy statements. Thus, Andy Burnham, who recently became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said the other day that Russia had interfered in the British referendum on leaving the EU—Brexit: that event took place 10 years ago, and naturally the British leader offered no facts or arguments to that effect, for which local media gave him a well-deserved dressing-down.
On October 12, the German government found itself in a state of chaos after Bärbel Bas resigned from the posts of labor minister and co-chair of the junior partner (the Social Democratic Party in the coalition); the already fragile government led by CDU/CSU bloc leader Chancellor F. Merz has found himself in the tight corner—his personal approval rating stands at 15 percent. German newspapers are discussing how many more months the current ruling coalition can survive.
Today’s France winds up in a particularly difficult position, where student protests have been soldiering on for a fourth week in a row over overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated school buildings, and a shortage of teachers. The young people have been supported by trade unions—this only aggravates the picture of a country in a state of chaos. “France’s financial problems are so serious that the country may have to face a collapse of its social security system—such a scenario could provoke painful cuts in benefits and even a default on French government debt, which already seriously exceeds the country’s GDP.”
France is being called the “new sick man of Europe”; the crisis phenomena in the country are so widespread that there is hardly anyone who does not criticize President Macron.
All the West’s problems have been tied into a tight knot: President Trump’s actions are frowned upon by Western Europeans, yet they realize that only under Washington’s patronage will they be able to cope with their problems. Their current course is fixated on all-out support for the Kyiv regime and on prolonging the Ukrainian conflict; in this they increasingly diverge from Trump. The head of the Kyiv regime, V. Zelensky, recently paid a visit to London, thereby finally going over to the side of the American president’s opponents. In essence, Trump’s opponents are uniting under the banner of rejecting a peaceful settlement and continuing the military conflict in Ukraine. They see no way out of the current impasse, although many right-wing forces on the continent advise them to acknowledge the mistakes they have made and try to establish ties with Moscow. At present they reject such a possibility, for it would mean acknowledging the bankruptcy of their current course. That is why they are trying with all their might and twisting and turning in every way, persuading the public that V. V. Putin is to blame for everything, since he is going to attack Europe.
These myths are very difficult to sustain, especially against the background of the agony of the Kyiv regime, which is suffering defeat on the battlefield.
Under these conditions, further confrontation between Washington and the ruling Western European elites is inevitable—and it will probably assume ever new forms. In this connection it is worth recalling that Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet and a figure close to Trump, has repeatedly stated his support for European right-wing forces, especially in France and Germany.
The events of October 2026 became a serious stage in the parting of the ways between the United States and Western Europe.
Veniamin Popov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, PhD in History
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