In hour-long speech, Putin denounces NATO’s ‘extreme recklessness’ in Ukraine, then during Q&A, congratulates Trump on presidential election

In a speech on Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club, Vladimir Putin spent roughly an hour describing his evolving worldview. Not for the first time, the Russian leader enumerated drastic changes amid the decline of Europe and the U.S. and the emergence of a global “multipolarity.” He argued that Western liberalism has regressed to extreme intolerance and aggression and simultaneously said Russia has never regarded Western civilization as an enemy or sought to impose its values on its people.

On the subject of nuclear weapons, Putin said the number of nuclear-armed nations is rising and warned that “the rapid escalation of threats and the final breakdown of legal and moral norms” make it impossible to guarantee that these weapons won’t be used.

Putin cited the West’s pursuit of Russia’s “strategic defeat” in Ukraine as an example of the “extreme recklessness” that he believes destabilizes the world. He added that the West’s supposed faith in its own impunity and exceptionalism also risks a “tragedy.” Putin pointed to NATO expansion and what he described as the West’s incitement of a coup d’état in Ukraine as part of a plan of “creeping intervention” to humiliate or destroy Russia. These actions “forced us to respond,” said Putin, noting (without further explanation) that a similar situation now exists on the Korean Peninsula. 

The president also argued that the Western monopolized system that coalesced after the Cold War “has begun to falter under the weight of ambition and greed,” leading America and Europe to “change the rules” as it grows less competitive globally. 

In Q&A after his speech, Putin also used the Valdai forum to congratulate Donald Trump on his recent presidential election in the United States.