The US political scientist argues that President Putin has figured out the plan and has every reason not to trust Western leaders

Western governments continue to pursue policies aimed at weakening Russia to the point of permanently diminishing its status as a great power, according to John Mearsheimer, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.

Moscow has long described the hostilities in Ukraine as a Western proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians are being used as "cannon fodder."

Russian officials have argued that the US and other Western powers intentionally escalated tensions by disregarding the Kremlin's security concerns over NATO's expansion in Eastern Europe and its growing military cooperation with Kiev.

In an interview with the host of the Daniel Davis Deep Dive YouTube channel on Friday, Mearsheimer said that Western governments' objective has been "to defeat Russia and Ukraine, wreck the Russian economy with sanctions, and bring the Russians to their knees."

"We've been unable to do that, but that doesn't mean we don't want to do it, of course, we want to do it," he stated.

"If the opportunity to do it popped up tomorrow, we would leap at it in a second, we would love to finish Russia off as a great power," the political theorist said, emphasizing that Moscow is fully aware of how existential the Western threat is.

Mearsheimer further noted: "[Russian President Vladimir] Putin, the last time I checked, has a triple-digit IQ, and that means he's figured this out, he understands what he's dealing with."

The professor argued that Putin has every reason not to trust either US President Donald Trump or the European leaders, as he "is assuming worst case in good realist fashion."

Multiple Western officials have publicly described the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war against Russia in recent months. Keith Kellogg, a Ukraine policy envoy under Trump, reiterated that view earlier this year while warning against supplying long-range cruise missiles to Kiev. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has used the same term, and the Kremlin has agreed with his characterization.