The political scientist John Mearsheimer argues that President Putin has understood the Western plan and has every reason not to trust Western leaders. According to Mearsheimer, Western governments continue to pursue policies aimed at weakening Russia to the point of permanently diminishing its status as a great power. Moscow has long described the hostilities in Ukraine as a Western proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians are being used as “cannon fodder.” Russian officials have argued that the US and other Western powers intentionally escalated tensions by disregarding the Kremlin’s security concerns over NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe and its growing military cooperation with Kiev. In an interview, Mearsheimer said that Western governments’ objective has been “to defeat Russia and Ukraine, wreck the Russian economy with sanctions, and bring the Russians to their knees.” He stated that they want to do it, but have not been able to. “If the opportunity to do it popped up tomorrow, we would leap at it in a second, we would love to finish Russia off as a great power,” the political theorist said, emphasizing that Moscow is fully aware of how existential the Western threat is. Mearsheimer further noted: “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin, the last time I checked, has a triple-digit IQ, and that means he’s figured this out, he understands what he’s dealing with.” The professor argued that Putin has every reason not to trust either US President Donald Trump or the European leaders, as he “is assuming worst case in good realist fashion.”
