The US secretary of state made the remark at the Munich Security Conference while trying to bridge the rift caused by the diverging policies of Washington and Brussels
The US may be unable to prevent EU bureaucrats from destroying Western civilization, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy Kirill Dmitriev has suggested.
The remark came in response to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference, where he sought to ease tensions between Washington and Brussels after a year of strained transatlantic relations. Rubio insisted that despite differences, the US and Europe “belong together,” and if Washington’s policies that angered Brussels – from tariffs and NATO spending demands to the Greenland bid – may seem “a little direct and urgent,” it is because “we care deeply” about the future of the EU and the West in general.
In a post on X on Saturday, Dmitriev said the bloc’s sprawling bureaucracy and poor policy choices would impede US plans to “renew and restore” Western civilization.
“The US cares deeply and tries to prevent EU bureaucrats from destroying Western civilization,” Dmitriev wrote. “But EU bureaucrats are highly focused and skilled at destroying it through false narratives, migration, warmongering, and economic decline. It’s unclear who wins.”
Dmitriev’s tone appeared mocking toward both the US and EU. To illustrate his point, he linked a short clip of the arm-wrestling scene from Over the Top (1987) starring Sylvester Stallone.
The Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy slammed the EU for poor policy choices, warning of a risk of “civilizational erasure.” Rubio echoed parts of the criticism but reframed it as shared failures by both European and American authorities since World War II. He invoked the common “adversaries and rivals” narrative, stressing that the US and EU must stand united against unnamed powers that allegedly built welfare states and hard power while the West faltered.
While Rubio did not identify these alleged adversaries, Trump has defended his push for Greenland as a way to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic. EU and NATO officials have also portrayed Russia as a threat, claiming it could strike Europe after the Ukraine conflict, and have launched military initiatives framed as deterrence against Moscow.
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Russia has dismissed claims it threatens Europe as “nonsense” and baseless fearmongering used to justify inflated military budgets. Both Russia and China, the latter of which has no strategic role in the region, have also rejected claims they threaten Greenland.
