MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. The aggravation in relations between the White House and the current European leaders was inevitable as Brussels remained a proponent of Russophobic rhetoric, and the US turn towards talks on Ukraine shattered it, said Leonid Slutsky, the head of the State Duma’s committee on international affairs and leader of the LDPR Party.

"The crisis in relations between the administration of [US President Donald] Trump and the current Brussels bureaucracy was inevitable. [Chief of the European diplomacy Kaja] Kallas, [head of the European Commission Ursula] von der Leyen, [German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz, [French President Emmanuel] Macron, [British Prime Minister Keir] Starmer and the rest were supporters of [former US President Joe] Biden's approaches in one way or another and came to power under the banner of the Russophobic rhetoric. The US turn towards negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement came a shock for them, from which they still have not completely recovered," he told TASS.

He noted that Brussels is unable to untangle "the knot of contradictions" stemming from its dependence on Washington, its anti-Russian position and continued support for the Kiev regime.

Slutsky also pointed out that European politicians do not want peace in Ukraine, because the end of the conflict "will expose their destructive policy towards their own people. This is why they want a seat at the negotiating table, but with their own chair. And this, in the current situation, will not lead to a real result. On the contrary, it will do harm."

Axios portal said that at a meeting of the Group of Seven foreign ministers there was a bad altercation between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Kallas. Rubio, in response to Kallas’ rebuke for not being tough enough on Russia, suggested that she herself resolve the conflict in Ukraine.