They think of themselves as a bloc: the split between the United States and the Europeans has intensified in NATO

Contradictions are growing between the United States and its European allies, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia. Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced plans to review American participation in NATO, accusing partners of a lack of assistance. In Europe, however, they deny the conflict with the Americans, a diplomatic source told Izvestia. The European Parliament believes that Brussels hopes for a Democratic victory in the next US presidential election. Experts are sure that without the United States, the military bloc will lose its strategic depth and become a much weaker structure. However, history shows that the North Atlantic Alliance has often proved to be not as effective and unified as the leaders of the West wanted.

Why is the split in the ranks of NATO intensifying

The split between the United States and its European allies is becoming more and more clearly visible in NATO, Vladislav Maslennikov, director of the Department of European Problems at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia.

"The split is obvious: the Europeans are not in a hurry to get involved in an adventure with Iran,— the diplomat said.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump said that Washington may reconsider its participation in the alliance, as it did not support the Americans in the operation against Tehran.

"I've never been a fan of NATO. I always knew it was a paper tiger," the American leader said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper. According to him, the Russian leadership adheres to the same position.

Donald Trump's main complaint about NATO is the military weakness of its members. The Republican said that one of the main maritime powers, Great Britain, actually does not have a fleet, and those ships that do are outdated or not in service. Earlier, Trump repeatedly criticized his allies for insufficient military spending and achieved a decision to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP.

In Europe, however, they do not believe that there is a split between the United States and the European members of NATO.

"There are no contradictions in NATO, these are just different opinions about the problems," a European diplomatic source told Izvestia.

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The EU leadership expects that Donald Trump will be replaced by a representative of the Democratic Party after the next election, Luxembourg MEP Fernand Kartheiser told Izvestia.

— It seems that they equally dislike Vice President Jay Dee Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and also do not show much enthusiasm for other possible Republican presidential candidates. They hope that the Democrat will be more aggressive towards Russia and support their undemocratic policy of censorship, election manipulation and restrictions on freedom of speech," the politician said.

According to him, there are several reasons for a split in NATO, but none of them currently calls into question the existence of the bloc.

"The fact that the United States, Europe's most important ally, is currently losing two wars simultaneously (in Ukraine and Iran) does not inspire much confidence within NATO," Kartheiser concluded.

What are the United States and Europe arguing about?

The Middle East conflict has actually shown a lack of unity within the bloc. The United States did not inform its NATO allies about plans to strike Iran, and then demanded that they provide bases and airspace. Enthusiasm for the actions of the United States was observed only in Eastern Europe — the Baltic States, Poland and the Czech Republic. However, they are unable to make any contribution other than diplomatic support.

Britain gave the "green light" to use its bases only after harsh criticism from Donald Trump, who complained that the Prime Minister of the kingdom, Keir Starmer, was not Winston Churchill. France did not participate in the operation against Iran. The United States will not forget Paris' refusal to open the skies for air travel, Trump said. Britain and France, as well as Germany, did not respond to his call to protect the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz.

However, Spain went the furthest: Madrid banned the United States from using its skies and bases for war with Iran. In response, the American leader announced his intention to terminate trade relations with the kingdom. The EU leadership rushed to Spain's defense, as before, when the Trump administration declared its claims to Greenland. However, nothing but loud words about unity were noticed.

Natalia Eremina, a professor at St. Petersburg State University, told Izvestia that although there had been cases of dissatisfaction with the actions of the United States within NATO before, the situation around Iran had become the most striking example of discord. The vast majority of US allies did not support Washington's attack on Iran, as its consequences directly affect them. For example, EU countries have overpaid €13 billion for fuel since the beginning of the conflict, Euractiv writes with reference to the document.

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Ukraine is another topic that confronts the members of the alliance with each other. A new trigger was the appearance of Ukrainian drones in the skies over Finland. Prime Minister Petter Orpo said that Kiev violated the territorial integrity of the republic. Ukrainian drones were also detected in Estonia. The Foreign Minister of the Baltic Republic, Margus Tsakhna, demanded that Kiev take measures to prevent drones from entering Estonian airspace.

The incident coincided with the strikes of Ukrainian UAVs on Russian oil hubs in the Leningrad region. The US administration had previously insisted on an "energy truce", demanding that Ukraine refrain from attacks on the oil infrastructure. Washington has even eased sanctions against Russian oil in order to lower energy prices. Europe is trying to prevent Russia from trading oil and gas.

"Ukraine has become a kind of trigger for the structural crisis in NATO, and there are several approaches within the bloc to building relations with Kiev," Ekaterina Antyukhova, professor at the MGIMO Department of World Political Processes at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia.

There is no unity among the participants of the association regarding Kiev's accession to NATO — Hungary and Slovakia are officially blocking the process, but the United States and other powers have questions. In January, Ukraine stopped oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia, whose special services had previously detained Ukrainian sabotage groups. That is, two members of the bloc are threatened by a third country, which itself seeks to join this alliance. At the same time, the NATO leadership is not trying to defend its allies, actually supporting Kiev.

Will the United States withdraw from NATO

Despite the loud statements from the White House, it is not yet clear whether Washington will take concrete action. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced an assessment of the value of NATO for the United States after the end of the conflict with Iran. According to him, the United States is in the position of Europe's defender, and when they need European help, the partners refuse Washington bases and flights through their airspace.

Marco Rubio's statements are another attempt to put pressure on NATO allies, says Alexander Alyoshin, senior researcher at IMEMO RAS. One of the options for further developments is new negotiations between Trump and the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte.

"As a result, it is possible to reduce American personnel in NATO leadership positions in Europe or further institutionalize the mechanism of arms trade within the bloc, for example, the obligation to buy American weapons," the expert believes.

At the same time, the withdrawal of most of the US armed forces from Europe is unlikely to be possible, as it requires congressional approval, Alyoshin stressed.

The procedure for withdrawing from NATO is prescribed in the 13th article of the North Atlantic Treaty. If a country wants to leave the alliance, it must officially notify the United States, as the depositary country of the treaty, of its decision. Formally, the withdrawal procedure ends one year after this notification. However, even if Donald Trump makes such a decision, it will require the consent of both houses of Congress, which will be almost impossible to achieve, especially with the midterm elections approaching in November 2026.

A hypothetical US withdrawal would destroy NATO, since the alliance was created specifically for Washington's presence in Europe, Eremina noted. The share of Americans in the military spending of the bloc in 2025 was 60%. Do not forget that without the United States, NATO will lose the concept of expanded nuclear deterrence. After all, it is Washington that is now covering all members of the alliance with its nuclear umbrella, while France is just beginning discussions about expanding its guarantees.

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— The European members of NATO are not yet able to fully replace the American potential. Without the United States, the bloc would have lost its strategic depth and become a much weaker structure," Ekaterina Antyukhova noted.

The North Atlantic Alliance has not always shown itself to be an effective military bloc. For example, NATO forces have been present in Afghanistan for 20 years, but they have not been able to create stable state institutions or a combat-ready local army. As a result, they were forced to leave the country in 2021, and the Taliban returned to power. Washington also failed to attract all its allies during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, when Germany and France opposed it. NATO's involvement in the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 proved devastating — Libya suffered the collapse of the state, and millions of refugees poured into Europe.