WASHINGTON, November 9. /TASS/. US President-elect Donald Trump will indeed try to improve relations with Russia, and his proposals to resolve the Ukrainian conflict will rather benefit Moscow than Kiev, a US political scientist told TASS.


“My guess is that former and future President Trump will try to improve relations with Russia,” Michael Desch, Director of the Notre Dame International Security Center (NDISC) in the US State of Indiana, said.


“His [Trump’s] first priority will likely be winding down the Ukraine war,” Desch, who also serves as a Professor of International Relations at the University of Notre Dame, continued.


“Given the current status quo on the ground, the settlement is likely to favor Russia more than Ukraine,” he added.

The expert also spoke about Trump’s potential actions regarding NATO. According to him, “Trump does not have the same commitment to NATO as did previous American presidents.”

“He will push harder again on burden sharing and I do not see him supporting further expansion, which also affects Ukraine,” Michael Desch emphasized.

He also spoke about Trump’s vision of China and BRICS expansion.

“Trump views China as the United States' main rival in the 21st century and so he’ll think about Russia in that context. But he views China primarily as an economic threat so I don’t think he views Russia in traditional geopolitical terms in this context,” he said.

According to the expert, “the interesting thing to watch is how his [Trump’s] Administration responds to BRICS, which clearly has geo-economic implications for the United States and the rest of the world.”

“On the one hand, he will likely see it as an arm of China; on the other hand, he likely shares many of the BRICs' critiques of the post-World War II Liberal order,” Michael Desch concluded.