Russia’s participation in the proposed «Peace Council» on Gaza is important for U. S. President Donald Trump as a way to underscore the body’s universal reach and political weight, according to Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya.

Speaking on Russian television, Nebenzya argued that the initiative serves Trump’s interests precisely because Moscow’s involvement lends credibility to the structure he is trying to assemble. In his assessment, Russia’s presence is meant to demonstrate that the council is not limited to a narrow circle of allies but aspires to broader international authority.

Nebenzya also used the occasion to comment on what he described as the current state of NATO. He said that Trump’s recent moves have effectively confirmed the alliance’s exhaustion as a political project. Moscow, he noted, has long pointed to this trend, and recent developments have only made it more visible. At the same time, Nebenzya stressed that NATO itself is unlikely to disappear in the foreseeable future. What has failed, in his view, is the concept of Euro-Atlantic security that once formed the ideological foundation of the bloc.

Turning to Europe, the Russian diplomat described a profound shift in the European Union’s role. He said the EU has moved away from its original identity as an economic union and has increasingly aligned itself with NATO’s military logic, to the point of becoming functionally subordinate to the alliance. According to Nebenzya, this transformation reflects a broader departure from the principles that underpinned decades of relative peace on the continent.

He linked this change to Europe’s current political leadership, suggesting that today’s generation of European politicians lacks firsthand understanding of war and therefore fails to appreciate the value of the long period of stability Europe experienced over the past 65 years.