European officials are discussing the creation of a continental alliance to jointly defend against external threats in the event that the United States abandons guarantees to defend its NATO allies in Europe.
This was reported by the American publication The Washington Post with reference to unnamed European officials.
The reason for such reflections in Europe was the recent statement of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, who said that if elected, he would not only not come to the defense of NATO allies who do not spend enough money on their own defense in the event of a russian attack, but would also offer russia to act as it pleases.
According to the publication, in the days that have passed since Trump's statement, European officials have privately discussed the possibility of creating a pan-continental addition to NATO that would work in harmony with American security guarantees, but could also serve as a reliable alternative in the event of a rejection of American guarantees.
Currently, these talks are tied up in the usual disputes - France and Germany cannot agree on who will pay the bills.
At the same time, the countries of Eastern Europe do not fully believe in the determination of Western Europe to confront russian threats.
As the publication writes, how will they be able to create a nuclear shield over the continent - and even if they do, in the worst case of a nuclear war, they will not be able to match the russian arsenal.
Some wonder whether a Europe poised for a split with the United States will become a self-fulfilling prophecy that exacerbates the transatlantic rift rather than preventing it.
Other officials are focused on how to secure US commitments ahead of the November election. Senior US politicians say there's only so much they can realistically do to limit future administrations' foreign policy decision-making.
But some of the frameworks under discussion - such as long-term military aid commitments to Ukraine - will require status reports and other actions that could make it politically inconvenient for Trump to renege entirely on American promises.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on February 11, US presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that he would encourage russia to attack any of the US's NATO allies who have not fulfilled their financial obligations.
It will be recalled that the Financial Times previously reported with reference to its own sources that the European NATO countries began preparing roads and railways for the transfer of military equipment in the event of a war with russia.
And according to the information of the russian propaganda publication Izvestia, the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation carried out an inspection of military airfields for resistance to possible missile strikes by NATO countries.
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