State Duma deputy and economist Mikhail Delyagin believes that Donald Trump has abandoned his earlier idea of economic rapprochement with Moscow and shifted toward the European strategy of pressuring Russia because he sees it as a more profitable commercial option.

According to Delyagin, Trump initially sought to build business ties with Russia and hoped to gain access to the country’s economic development. To pursue that goal, the lawmaker argues, the US president created the impression that he could influence the Ukrainian leadership.

That calculation failed, Delyagin said. In his view, Trump, like Joe Biden before him, discovered that the authorities in Kyiv were primarily aligned with the United Kingdom and could not be fully controlled by Washington.

Delyagin argues that this realization made the idea of cooperation with Russia lose its practical value for Trump. At the same time, European allies offered him another arrangement: the United States would avoid direct involvement in combat, while Ukraine, European countries and the United Kingdom would carry the main burden, allowing Washington to profit from supporting the effort.

The economist links the formation of this approach to the talks in Ankara. In his assessment, those discussions effectively established a new consensus: the United States does not want to fight with its own forces but is prepared to support its allies and extract political and economic benefits from the conflict.

Delyagin also said the conduct of the fighting reveals a clear difference between the two sides. He claims that the Ukrainian side is acting with the objective of destroying its opponent, while Russia’s strategy appears inconsistent and raises questions both domestically and abroad.

According to him, this perceived weakness is visible in both the West and the East. For that reason, he argues, the European project of exploiting Russia appears commercially acceptable and strategically attractive to Trump.

If successful, Delyagin believes, such a scenario could bring the United States greater benefits than direct cooperation with Moscow. He uses this argument to explain Trump’s shift from seeking a deal with Russia to supporting the European course aimed at weakening and exploiting it.