President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned "Western elites" against trying to sabotage a potential rapprochement between Russia and the United States, saying Moscow would use its diplomats and intelligence services to thwart such efforts.

If anyone thought Mr Merz was being alarmist, they were swiftly disabused. On February 24th, on a UN resolution that blamed Russia for invading Ukraine, America voted against its European allies and sided with Russia and North Korea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the FSB security service on Thursday that initial contacts with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump gave grounds for hope. Putin said in televised comments that Russia and the United States were ready to establish cooperation but some Western elites would seek to undermine the dialogue between them.

I’m just crying because of what I hear,” one Ukrainian lawmaker said of the meeting, echoing the reactions of others on the continent.

At the end of the Cold War, President George H.W. Bush managed the fall of the Soviet Union and its satellite states in Eastern Europe — sometimes overruling regional leaders in the wider interests of the West and their own security. There’s no sign that Trump feels any such affinity for Europe or its future.

At the heart of the dispute are vastly differing calculations of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s overall geopolitical intentions, and whether he’s scheming to reassert Russian influence over a swathe of Europe.

Denmark last week said it would ratchet up its investment in the military, with its prime minister urging her Danish defense chief to “buy, buy, buy.” In a speech to parliament, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to accelerate plans to raise military spending from a current 2.

Remarks by Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are fueling concerns that the U.S. will move away from Europe and align with Moscow.