Putin’s Valdai keynote: Russian president addresses renowned forum

01 October 2026

Replying to an Indian guest’s question, Putin says he hopes to expand cooperation with New Delhi regarding the Northern Sea Route.

“A Chinese vessel, a container ship, recently made a test run, as did a South Korean one. We are also discussing this possibility with our Indian friends. We support the joint use of such promising international corridors,” he says.

“I repeat: we want to ensure this does not become a source of conflict.”

Putin says he has a good relationship with US President Donald Trump, and is grateful to him for efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

“Be that as it may, everything that clouds our relations with the United States, those factors that cloud and undermine our ties, did not arise yesterday or today; they have been accumulating over decades,” he says.

Putin expressed hope that the factors dividing Russia and the US would fade, opening the way for new opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.

Putin says he agrees with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the civilizational nature of Russian-Chinese relations.

“When we speak of Russia or China as ‘civilizational states,’ we are referring primarily to the need to protect our traditional values, our history, and our traditions,” he says.

“The trusting, friendly relations between Russia and China – as I have said many times – serve as a major stabilizing factor in global politics,” he adds.

Moscow must consider the threat from countries arming Kiev, Putin says.

“I am not saying that tomorrow we intend to launch strikes against the territory or facilities of countries supplying weapons to Ukraine,” he says.

“But it is a threat that we must clearly understand, assess, and keep in mind.”

Kiev’s long-distance strikes on Russian territory couldn’t “proceed so smoothly” without Western space reconnaissance and the technical assistance of Western specialists, Putin says.

“This poses a threat to everyone. It amounts to the involvement of those countries in the war against Russia. And it creates additional threats for the future,” he stresses.

Moscow does not receive supplies from any nation, and relies on its own arms industry, Putin says.

“Ukraine... cannot exist independently. It is actually losing elements of statehood. In my view, this is obvious. It is being governed from the outside.”

To a question from an Iranian delegate on the Russian position on security in the Gulf, Putin defers to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s address to the UN Security Council, adding “we are hopeful that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened and sanctions against Iran will be lifted.”

Russia is not attempting to “scare” anyone with the prospect of nuclear escalation but is retaliating against Western attempts at intimidation, Putin says.

Bellicose statements from Western and European politicians “regarding the necessity, possibility, and preparation for a war with Russia in 2029–2030” are coupled with “concrete actions,” he says, citing NATO drills in the Baltic Sea and attempts to detain Russian ships.

“It is all escalation.”

“If it comes to a direct attack on the Russian Federation – in this instance, referring to Kaliningrad,” Moscow will retaliate with everything at its disposal, he says. “That is inevitable.”

They will exploit and abuse the notion of a Russian nuclear threat to distract their own citizens from economic failure. We're not threatening anyone, not planning to attack anyone in 2029, 2030, 2050.

Constant increased tension from European countries is linked to their own economic and political deterioriation, Putin says. Amid collapsing quality in living they have to change citizens' focus to external issues, he says.

The UN’s “ineffectiveness” began “with NATO’s attack on Yugoslavia,” he says.

“Without any decision from the Security Council, without authorization, without the UN, they unleashed a major war.”

“That is where it all started. Naturally, the whole world was watching. The logic was: if they can do it, then everyone else can too.”

The line of no return was crossed after aggressive circles in NATO took the fall of the Soviet Union as a signal to continue fragmenting Russia, rather than allowing Moscow into broader international architecture, Putin says in his Q&A session in Valdai.

“They said that NATO would not expand toward Russia, and lied, immediately began expanding… five, six waves of expansion,” he adds.

The support of separatism in South Caucasus, including the support of radical Islamists, was all aimed at further fragmenting Russia, he says.

Putin concludes his address by urging countries to set aside ambition and selfishness, tackle inequality and environmental degradation, and turn technological threats into opportunities.

He hopes future history books will describe this period as the moment humanity rejected military confrontation and began building a stable new world order. Otherwise, he warns, “there is a risk that there will be no one left to study those textbooks, and the textbooks themselves will never appear.”

“Let’s believe in the best,” he says, urging everyone to work to make that future possible.

Digitizing warfare risks turning bloodshed and deaths into “a kind of computer game,” Putin warns. AI and autonomous systems increasingly replace human decision-making, while growing cruelty and disregard for humanitarian norms make conflicts more inhumane, he says.

He calls for renewed international discussion of the rules of war, recalling Russia’s initiative behind the 1899 Hague conventions. Military professionalism includes respecting humanitarian limits, he stresses.

Putin says Russian forces have always upheld those norms and have never been the first to attack facilities not directly linked to the enemy’s military infrastructure.

Putin and moderator Fyodor Lukyanov made a reference to Egon Karl-Heinz Bahr, a German SPD politician and former journalist. He was the creator of the Ostpolitik promoted by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, for whom he served as secretary of state in the German Chancellery from 1969 until 1972.

Limits on artificial intelligence in security are “a question of humanity’s survival,” Putin says, acknowledging that technological progress cannot be stopped. However, he stresses that its consequences must be understood, particularly as algorithms increasingly make decisions in civilian and military settings.

He recalls Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov’s decision in September 1983 to question an early-warning alert reporting five incoming US missiles. Petrov correctly suspected a malfunction, Putin says, warning that AI in his place could have produced a very different outcome.

AI can make weapons more effective and conflicts more destructive, he adds, calling for an impartial international discussion on preserving humanitarian limits in warfare.

Escalation driven by arrogance and attempts to cross red lines is “a path to the edge of the abyss,” Putin says. Provocations invite retaliation, tightening a spiral of increasingly destructive responses that could become irreversible.

No one can guarantee that weapons capable of destroying all life will never be used, he says. The more openly a country pursues an opponent’s “strategic defeat,” the greater the risk of conflict entering its most severe phase, he adds, calling for genuine diplomacy that accounts for all sides’ interests.

Putin sighs deeply after recounting how German politicians in 1990 understood what was needed to ensure peaceful geopolitical realignment following the dissolution of the USSR.

He recalls German Social Democratic politician Egon Bahr’s warnings that failing to overcome Europe’s division into hostile blocs could perpetuate confrontation and isolate the Soviet Union.

Bahr proposed a powerful security council bringing together the US, USSR, and countries across Eastern and Central Europe, he says. Instead, forces opposed to European cooperation prevailed in the West after the Soviet collapse, Putin argues.

Despite Russia’s years of efforts to integrate with the West, he says Western governments sought to isolate and further dismantle it, contributing to today’s dangerous situation.

Late Soviet leaders’ “naivety” and “blind trust” in Western partners and reliance on “gentlemen’s agreements” harmed both the USSR and long-term global stability, Putin says. Soviet leaders wanted to please the West, while Western leaders sought to reshape the world in their own interests and claim Soviet assets, he argues.

He stresses that the USSR’s collapse stemmed primarily from accumulated internal imbalances and generations of leadership mistakes. Many of today’s conflicts also reflect the failure of politicians in both East and West to properly manage the upheavals of the late 20th century, he says.

Russia was deliberately pushed into a position where it had to defend itself with weapons, Putin says, rejecting the argument that Moscow speaks of peace while starting a war.

“It was not us who wanted or began fighting. They began fighting against us,” he says. Putin accuses the West of encouraging aggressive nationalism and Russophobia in Ukraine, backing the coup in Kiev, and supplying offensive weapons, while NATO planned bases on historically Russian territories.

Putin says the pursuit of a “strategic defeat” against Russia and attacks on Russian people forced Moscow to respond. He calls for countries to live peacefully and find a way forward together, stressing that trust is difficult to build and easy to destroy.

Major powers bear enormous responsibility for global stability as international institutions and law weaken, Putin says. He warns that broken commitments, deception, and turning dialogue into propaganda destroy the foundations of international relations.

New groupings such as BRICS have considerable potential, but building a multipolar order will take time, he adds. Respect for both the letter and spirit of the law, along with moral limits, remains essential to keeping dialogue possible, according to the Russian leader.

Artificial intelligence could enable “digital totalitarianism” by forcing people into uniform patterns through algorithms configured by others, Putin warns, noting that such a system would be as bleak and inhumane as totalitarian societies of the past.

He calls for careful adoption of technology in areas sensitive to human moral development. Countries must also find ways to protect their digital sovereignty, security, and identity without shutting themselves off from global progress or falling behind technologically, he says.

Some international organizations are provoking risks rather than reducing them by serving individual countries or groups of states, Putin says.

He argues that a small group of Western countries exercises disproportionate influence over organizations like the UN despite representing a global minority.

Russia supports reform giving Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East a greater role at the UN, Putin says, adding that changes must go beyond expanding the Security Council to address the UN’s priorities and work. He admits, however, that achieving the necessary consensus remains difficult.

Governments seeking to preserve stability at home can end up “exporting instability” abroad and aggravating international tensions, Putin says. He warns that conflicts are likely to continue as sweeping global changes fuel ambitions and encourage risk-taking in pursuit of perceived gains.

Over the longer term, however, moving away from Western hegemony will lead to a more stable, democratic, and free multipolar world order, he says.

Humanity has yet to fully grasp the scale of the challenges accompanying an “absolutely new reality,” Putin says, with threats and opportunities inseparably intertwined.

The transformation goes beyond shifts in power or economic and technological influence, he stresses. It affects human biological and moral nature, ways of life, and the foundations of how people understand the world.

Preserving global peace and security must take priority as established legal norms are discarded without new ones taking their place, Putin says.

Responsibility for humanity’s future requires practical action to prevent catastrophic scenarios, he stressed.

The world has reached a decisive turning point with profound changes extending beyond politics to technology, society, climate, medicine, warfare, energy, demographics, and artificial intelligence, Putin says.

Putin opens his Valdai address by saying that East and West, North, and South will eventually have to agree on principles for a new world order capable of supporting humanity’s development for decades to come.

The Valdai Club’s experience of frank, trusting dialogue will be valuable in that process, he says, but warns that the world currently faces more urgent and acute challenges.

At last year’s Valdai forum, Putin jokingly “confessed” to personally ordering the mysterious drone flights reported across Europe.

RT’s investigation into the EU’s drone scare examines how unsubstantiated sightings fueled anti-Russian hysteria and costly military spending, even as investigations failed to establish Moscow’s involvement while some supposed drones turned out to be civilian aircraft, helicopters, or other objects.

Putin’s Valdai address comes a day after he outlined economic, social and security priorities at the opening session of Russia’s newly elected State Duma.

He stressed that Russia has the resources to achieve its goals without outside assistance, saying, “we don’t need handouts.” He called for a balanced budget, full funding for social commitments and national projects, greater investment and fewer administrative barriers for businesses.

Putin also urged lawmakers to strengthen defense, support troops and their families, and “do everything for our victory.” He further called for continued reconstruction of Russia’s four new regions, now represented in the State Duma for the first time, and said September’s elections demonstrated national unity in the face of “historic challenges.”

Putin’s address comes at a time of significantly heightened rhetoric and self-defeating claims of “hybrid warfare” from an increasingly hysterical Western bloc. RT unpacked the claims around the “Fairford incident” at the weekend that saw UK deep state media go into overdrive.

Russia is not considering using nuclear weapons and urges European officials to keep their emotions in check, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters ahead of the start of the Valdai meeting.

“The president has repeatedly said that Russia is not threatening anyone in Europe in any way, because we simply have no problems with Europe,” he said.

Asked how Moscow would respond to a NATO blockade of Kaliningrad Region, Peskov said Russia’s doctrine sets clear conditions for using different weapons, all aimed at protecting its territorial integrity and the state’s existence.

If NATO is not planning action against Russia, the bloc has no reason to worry, he said.

What is the Valdai Discussion Club?

For those who are unfamiliar with the Valdai Discussion Club, here’s a bit of background on why its annual forum is such a significant part of the calendar for anyone interested in Russia and its foreign policy direction:

• The Valdai Discussion Club was set up in 2004 and takes its name from Lake Valdai near Veliky Novgorod – the site of the club’s first meeting.

• Symbolizing the club’s importance, Russian President Vladimir Putin was among the officials to attend that first gathering more than 20 years ago. This year’s forum is the 23d annual Valdai gathering.

• In 2014, management of the club was taken over by the Valdai Club Foundation, under the auspices of Russian think tank the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, the Russian International Affairs Council, Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and the Higher School of Economics.

Putin’s address comes amid escalating rhetoric from European NATO members, particularly after Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski recently proposed to deploy additional troops near Russia’s Kaliningrad Region so that Moscow would be “uncertain of what we will do.”

Putin has since ordered all relevant Russian agencies to take the necessary measures to ensure the security of the exclave, according to presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev.

The topic of this year’s Valdai forum is “Responsibility for the Future: Limits of the Possible or Unlimited Possibility?” Vladimir Putin’s speech is expected to draw parallels to his historic 2014 address about the collapse of the unipolar world and his 2025 Valdai speech about the rise of multipolarity and the need to shift to agreements based on mutual respect between countries.

Participants from 40 countries are attending this year’s Valdai forum, with about 60% of attendees coming from foreign states, including the UK, Germany, USA, France, Iran, India, China, Brazil, Türkiye, South Africa, Japan, and others.

Putin’s upcoming speech at the Valdai plenary session is one of several annual addresses that is eagerly awaited by “the whole world,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

He stated that Putin will begin his address after 4:00 PM Moscow time.

After the event, the president is expected to meet with Russia’s chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, and the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Aleksandr Boroda.