The political scientist spoke about Trump's strategic goals in relation to the Russian Federation

Deterring Russia remains a key strategic objective of the United States, regardless of the rhetoric of American President Donald Trump. This was stated on July 9 by political analyst Alexander Asafov in an interview with Izvestia.

"Trump has quite clear goals — to contain Russia as a geopolitical competitor. This task has been facing the United States for several decades and will not go away," Asafov said.

According to him, Washington seeks to reduce costs by shifting part of the costs to European allies.

"Trump is trying to replace real help with words — to support Ukraine morally, but not to supply Patriot or other expensive systems. Resources are limited, and a lot has been spent on Middle Eastern conflicts," the political scientist explained.

He added that, despite pressure from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, decisions on military assistance will be made personally by Trump, based on political benefits.

"I don't think Trump will return to the volumes that were supplied under [former US President Joe] Biden. But, to be honest, it's quite difficult to predict here, because he will continue to put pressure on Russia with the same methods of public blackmail," Asafov summed up.

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On July 8, Trump announced new arms supplies for Ukraine during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. He noted that the weapons will be supplied for the defense of Ukraine.

On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the West's actions with the supply of weapons to Ukraine were not conducive to a peaceful settlement of the conflict. According to him, the line that the Europeans have chosen is aimed at contributing in every possible way to the continuation of hostilities.