© Alexei Druzhinin/Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/TASS
October 27 saw Russian President Vladimir Putin attend the final plenary session of the Valdai International Discussion Club. The 19th annual meeting titled A Post-Hegemonic World: Justice and Security for Everyone took place in Moscow on October 24 to 27. 111 politicians, diplomats, experts and economists from 41 countries were engaged in the club's meeting this year. Notably, the Russian leader has had a tradition to meet with Valdai participants since 2004.
This year’s plenary session was mottoed A World Without a Hegemon, which largely established the conceptual issues of Vladimir Putin's speech. In particular, he criticized the West for funding the 2014 coup in Ukraine and urged to create new international financial platforms that should not depend on any single control center. The Russian leader stressed that room for everyone’s democratic and distinct development path is emerging before all the states now. So, let us dwell in more detail on certain points of the president’s speech and his answers to questions by those present.
Starting his speech, Vladimir Putin announced attempts to replace international law with some rules made up by God knows who. "It looks like we are witnessing an attempt to enforce just one rule whereby those in power could live without following any rules at all and could get away with anything," he said. According to him, there is no unity in the West, it is a complex conglomerate, and the crisis going on in the world has acquired a global nature. "Sitting things out can hardly work in the modern world. He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind, as the saying goes. The crisis has indeed taken on a global dimension," Putin said.
Also, he stressed the crisis impacts everyone, and mankind has only two ways left: either to keep accumulating issues that will inevitably crush everyone, or to search for solutions together. "Even imperfect ones, as long as they work, can make our world a more stable and safer place," the Russian leader noted, adding that he has always believed in the power of common sense, which makes him sure that at some point “both the new centers of the multipolar international order and the West will have to start a dialogue on an equal footing about a common future for us all”. "And the sooner the better, of course," Putin added.
The Russian leader further noted as follows: "The West has taken a number of steps in recent years and especially in recent months that are designed to escalate the situation. As a matter of fact, they always seek to aggravate matters, which is nothing new, either. This includes the stoking of war in Ukraine, the provocations around Taiwan, and the destabilization of the global food and energy markets." The West denies the sovereignty of countries and peoples, and tramples upon other states’ interests. "Global power is exactly what the so-called West has at stake in its game. But this game is certainly dangerous, bloody and, I would say, dirty," the Russian leader pointed out.
At the same time, Vladimir Putin said that in a multibillion-dollar world any nation, society or civilization should have a chance to choose their own path and their own socio-political system. "No one will ever be able to tell our people what kind of society we should be building and what principles should underlie it," the President stressed. He noted that if the United States and the European Union countries have the right to choose their own path, other states certainly have it, too: Asian countries, Islamic states, the Persian Gulf monarchies, states of other continents. "Of course, our country, Russia, also has this right," he said, pointing to its unique culture of interaction between religions it has developed over a thousand of years. “All you need to do is respect each other”.
Answering questions about a potential nuclear war, the President stressed there is always a danger of using nuclear weapons as long as they exist. "The goal of the current fuss around such threats and the potential use of nuclear weapons is very primitive… the Western attempts to apply pressure on all the participants of international communication… are achieving nothing, and they are looking for additional arguments… We have never said anything proactively about Russia potentially using nuclear weapons. All we did was hint in response to statements made by Western leaders," he said. He reminded the audience that the only country in the world which has used nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state was the United States, who dropped bombs on Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.
At the same time, the Russian president criticized the stance taken by the Western elite, which sees "Kremlin's intrigues" everywhere. "Are we really so all-powerful?" the Russian leader sneered and branded this absurd. Putin noted that any alternative opinion is declared subversive propaganda and a threat to democracy. He does not think it's normal. "This is insane. What have you sunk to? – he said. – Use your brain, at least, say something more interesting, lay out your viewpoint conceptually. You cannot blame everything on the Kremlin’s scheming."
President Putin naturally touched upon the Ukrainian crisis. In his opinion, what is happening in that country, as well as other recent events are part of the "tectonic changes" in the world order. The head of state listed the reasons that prompted him to launch a special military operation in Ukraine. Among them, he named the expansion of NATO and Kiev's public refusal to live up to the Minsk agreements. The authorities realized the need to do something about it and help the Donbass. But a mere recognition of the DPR and the LPR was not enough – the republics themselves would not have survived, hence the need to make them part of Russia, the president explained.
Ukraine was preparing its own military operation against the Donbass, and the longer the Russian side would have delayed its action, the stronger Kiev would become at the borderline. The situation would only get worse for Russia, the head of state said, adding that the current mission’s key goal is still helping the people of Donbass. “Of course, I am aware of the General Staff’s plans, but I do not think we should be discussing the details”, he went on to elaborate. At the same time, there is no point in delivering a nuclear strike against Ukraine, whether it be militarily or politically.
Historically, the Ukrainians and the Russians are one people. Answering a question by forum moderator and Valdai Club scientific director Fyodor Lukyanov, the president set out an opinion that the entire conflict is partly a civil war. Vladimir Putin believes "Russia could have been the only real and serious guarantor of Ukraine’s statehood, sovereignty, and territorial integrity." However, if part of the Ukrainian ethnic group considers itself a separate people, this can only be treated with respect.
