The Russian president covered a wide range of topics at a packed event in Sochi on Thursday<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a session of the annual Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday. The Russian leader delivered a keynote speech, took part in a panel discussion, and answered questions from the audience.
\nOver the course of nearly four hours, Putin touched on a wide range of issues, including the conflict in Ukraine, the evolution of global politics, ties with the US, and what he described as the decline of Western civilization.
\nMultipolar world as a response to Western hegemony
\nThe world is undergoing \u201crapid and drastic changes,\u201d Putin said, adding that it is \u201ceasy to get lost\u201d in a model where nothing is truly \u201cdetermined.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Putin offers peace to the West. Will it accept?<\/p>\n
The rise of a multipolar world is a natural response to the heavy-handed policies of the West,\u00a0he argued.
\n\u201cMultipolarity has become a direct consequence of attempts to establish and preserve global hegemony, a response by the international system and history itself to the obsessive desire to arrange everyone into a single hierarchy, with Western countries at the top. The failure of such an endeavor was only a matter of time,\u201d he stated.
\nErosion of democracy
\nPutin\u00a0insisted\u00a0that the very concept of democracy is deteriorating in the West.
\n\u201cDemocratic electoral procedures have been turned into farce, attempts to manipulate the will of the people \u2013 it won\u2019t work. We\u2019ve seen this in Romania, for example\u2026 It happens in many countries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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Relax, sleep well \u2013 Putin to the EU<\/p>\n
In 2024, Romania\u2019s top court annulled the results of the presidential election, citing fraud and foreign meddling, while frontrunner Calin Georgescu was barred from participating in the rerun.
\nPutin also said institutions such as the OSCE have become politicized and biased, while the EU is no longer the \u201cpowerful civilizational center\u201d it once was.
\nThe West should focus on its own problems
\nPutin dismissed claims that Russia intends to attack the EU or NATO, saying politicians who promote this are either \u201cgrossly incompetent\u201d or \u201ccrooked\u201d and\u00a0lying to their citizens.
\n\u201cHonestly, all I want to say is: Relax, sleep well, or address your own issues,\u201d Putin said, urging the EU to focus on migration and economic problems instead.
\nRussia can\u2019t afford to be weak
\nHistory shows that weakness is not an option for Russia, Putin argued. For some, he said, \u201cit creates temptation, an illusion that disagreements with us can be resolved through force.\u201d
\nHe argued that the Ukraine conflict has transformed the Russian army into one of the most combat-ready forces in the world, with the ability to \u201crapidly adapt\u201d to challenges.
\n\u201cIf we\u2019re at war with the entire NATO bloc\u2026 we have to be confident in ourselves, and we are confident,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s \u2018paper tiger\u2019 remark possibly misunderstood \u2013 Putin<\/p>\n
France resorts to piracy
\nAsked about France\u2019s seizure of an oil tanker allegedly belonging to the supposed \u2018Russian shadow fleet\u2019 used to bypass sanctions, Putin compared it to piracy. He downplayed the incident as an attempt to distract voters from domestic issues.
\n\u201cWhat do you do with pirates? You destroy them. What else should be done to pirates? This doesn\u2019t mean a war will break out across the world\u2019s oceans tomorrow, but the risk of collisions will certainly increase sharply and significantly,\u201d Putin said.
\nNot a paper tiger
\nPutin rejected US President Donald Trump\u2019s recent description of Russia as a \u201cpaper tiger,\u201d suggesting Trump may have been speaking ironically.\u00a0He stressed that the Russian army has been steadily making gains and inflicting heavy casualties on Ukrainian troops.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Putin accuses France of piracy<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s next? Well, in that case, go and confront this paper tiger. But, as you can see, the reality on the ground is different,\u201d he said.\u00a0
\nPutin claimed that Ukraine lost nearly 45,000 soldiers in September alone, adding that Russia is de facto \u201cat war with the whole of NATO.\u201d At the same time, he praised Trump for being willing to listen to Russia\u2019s arguments during negotiations.
\nTomahawks would not tip the scale
\nPutin warned that the delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine would not change the course of the conflict, but would further escalate tensions with the US.
\nAlthough some Western media outlets suggested that Trump was considering providing the missiles, Reuters reported on Thursday that shipments are unlikely since the US has none to spare.
\nThe delivery of these weapons would mark \u201ca new stage of escalation,\u201d Putin said, arguing that Ukraine cannot operate them without direct US military involvement.
\nMurder of Charlie Kirk shows rift in US society
\nPutin expressed condolences to the family of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated by a sniper last month in Utah.
\nThe \u201cdespicable crime\u201d was \u201ca sign of a deep rift in society,\u201d\u00a0the Russian leader said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Russian president covered a wide range of topics at a packed event in Sochi on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a session of the annual Valdai Discussion Club…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t