President Trump’s suggestion that a deal with Russia could extend far beyond Ukraine has unsettled NATO allies, with a former top alliance commander telling Fox News Digital that Vladimir Putin has long sought to carve up global influence among major powers.
Speaking after meeting Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev at the White House on Thursday, Trump said any agreement would be sweeping. “It’s going to be a big agreement, and it’s going to involve more than Ukraine… I could even say it might involve all of Europe,” he told reporters. “It’s going to be a big, beautiful agreement, and everyone’s going to be thrilled.”
Retired Gen. Philip Breedlove, the former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the remark fits a pattern he has watched Putin pursue for years.
“Putin has a plan for the world, and he has pushed that plan on leaders several times. He talks about it and he writes about it.”
According to Breedlove, that plan envisions three spheres of influence: China over the Far East, Russia over Europe, and the United States over the Western Hemisphere. “I do not expect there’s going to be a lot of cooperation from the countries of Europe,” he said. “The Western world is waiting to see what this big plan is, and they are very concerned because it is about them.”
Zelenskyy rejects a ‘Yalta 2.0’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy invoked the 1945 Yalta Conference, where Allied leaders divided up postwar Europe before Moscow consolidated control of the east, to warn against any repeat.
“We don’t want to have Yalta 2.0. We don’t want to be divided by Russia. For me, it’s not simple and it can be dangerous.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Sunday, ahead of a G7 meeting in Paris, that discussions about Europe’s postwar architecture were already taking place. “It’s one of the key topics that’s been raised repeatedly in every conversation, anytime negotiations have been discussed,” he said, adding that “we obviously have to get past the conflict to get to that point.”
Delegations are preparing for talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10-11. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed Sunday that France would take part. “The Europeans will be well represented; France will be in Abu Dhabi to take part in these discussions,” he said, according to Reuters.
Who gets a seat at the table
Breedlove questioned whether Ukraine or European governments would accept terms negotiated without them. “I do expect that when we get a peek under the hood of what Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump have devised that there may be European partners and allies to include Ukraine that may or may not be enthralled with the proposed solution,” he said. “We have always said nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. Neither have we heard anything about the EU or NATO being in this conversation. And yet the EU, NATO and Ukraine are central and the heart of the matter that apparently is going to be discussed.”
Divisions among European leaders over how to engage Moscow have also surfaced. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a 90-minute call with Putin on October 27. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticized such separate outreach, saying “I think Europe should stick together rather than going solo.”
Breedlove defended the calls. “The two calls that recently took place between Northern leaders in the NATO alliance and Russia, I don’t think that they’re out of place at all. I think they’re entirely appropriate,” he said. “The great powers of Europe are getting very concerned that someone is dealing with their security without including them in the conversation.”
He warned that any settlement requiring Europe to weaken its own defenses to satisfy Moscow would meet fierce resistance. “If the maximalist demands of Russia remain intact and in order to find peace, all the rest of Europe has to give up its security, sacrifice its security, make itself more susceptible to Russian attack, then this is not going to go well,” he said. “Putin has never been a partner for peace in Ukraine. Putin is not now a partner for peace in Ukraine. The EU nations, the NATO nations, and Ukraine are not going to sign up to a plan that suggests that Russia will be able to once again amass its armies, march across borders and intervene in its neighbors’ internal business.”
“We need to understand that we are in a war. Mr. Putin is at war with the West,” Breedlove added.
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