Trump wants to reduce security assistance to the Baltic states

US President Donald Trump, after active efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza, is moving away from direct diplomacy, handing the initiative to allies and focusing on domestic issues. This is causing concern in Europe, as such a position of the head of the White House could fuel the Kremlin's aggression.

As the publication noted, citing a knowledgeable official, in late August, Pentagon representatives met with a group of European diplomats and warned them: the US plans to stop some security assistance to Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia — NATO member states bordering Russia.

In particular, Pentagon spokesman David Baker, according to Reuters, stated that Europe needs to reduce its dependence on the United States, saying that the United States will switch its attention to other — domestic — priorities.

It is noted that European diplomats feared that this fact could encourage greater aggression by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and it seems they were right. The publication recalled that on September 19, Russian MiG-31 fighter jets invaded Estonian airspace, and before that, Russian drones attacked Poland.

Meanwhile, the US president's reaction to these incidents has been rather restrained, and as Reuters noted, it fits into a new trend. And this trend is that if just a few months ago Trump tried to resolve or at least mediate the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, in recent weeks he has largely moved away from diplomacy, and instead has allowed, and in some cases even called on, allies to take the initiative, offering only distant promises of support from the US.

According to veteran American diplomacy, Carnegie Endowment Senior Fellow Aaron David Miller, Trump may have simply realized that these conflicts are much more complex than he imagined.

He is not interested in doing something unless he sees that the effort and political capital spent will bring tangible returns.

As for the negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, the US president publicly announced his possible withdrawal from them in the spring, but he did not withdraw, and some American weapons even began to arrive in Ukraine as part of the PURL program.

Further US disengagement will lead to more provocative moves by Putin, as he will see Europe as weaker because of its disunity — especially without US support, said Alex Plitsas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Several European diplomats in Washington admitted to the publication that they are exhausted by how often Trump's position on Russia changes, and noted that his recent statements about dissatisfaction with what Putin is doing are unconvincing.

Trump also argues for the US refusal to help Europe by saying that European countries themselves "finance the Russian war machine" by buying Russian oil, even though they seek to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible. European officials told the publication that this is exactly what the US president emphasized in a telephone conversation with European partners on September 4.

Some diplomats see a trap in Trump's demand for Europe, as it is difficult to quickly adopt such measures within the EU's bureaucratic structures.