Today was the third and final day of the Valdai Club meetings and per tradition the President delivered the key speech that all invitees came to hear.
There were some new and important issues that he addressed which I had not heard in his past speeches to the Club, in particular a rather lengthy discussion of the dangers Artificial Intelligence poses as it is being quickly integrated into military programs.
And Putin made lengthy digression to share his amazement at the wisdom and farsightedness of Egon Bahr, the German adviser to Chancellor Willy Brandt who remained true to the principles of accommodation with Russia in Germany’s Ostpolitik even as the Soviet Union collapsed. His perusal of Bahr’s remarks and writings highlighted the risks Bahr saw that instead of normalization, there would be forces in Germany and the West seeking to heighten conflict in the future.
Indeed, Putin spent time in his speech on very familiar material regarding the aggression and Russophobia of the West that have precipitated the present confrontation. He went out of his to present Russia as peace loving and ready to patch up relations with neighbors, as a country which has no intention of attacking the West, though it will defend Kaliningrad, for example “with all the military means it has at its disposal.” That expression is meant to take the edge off the remarks coming from Russia in the past few days that nuclear weapons are ready for that defense.
So far, so good. The problem with Putin’s statements from the dais today came later, especially in his response to several well focused and tough questions put to him by the moderator, Fyodor Lukyanov.
Lukyanov is the program director of the Valdai Discussion Club. He is also the chief editor of the magazine Russia in Global Politics and holds high positions in several important foreign policy and defense policy think tanks.
Fyodor asked him whether Russia is considering attacking European producers of military equipment being supplied to Ukraine for purposes of attacking deep inside the Russian Federation. Is Russia prepared to face a joint NATO response to any such Russian attack under the terms of Article 5. Putin’s answer undid substantially any rise in Russian deterrence that may be occurred in the past several weeks thanks to the savage attacks Russia is making on Kiev.
He did not answer that question and instead answered a less focused question than had not been asked. He said that Russia is studying carefully where such weapons are being produced. Period. He added that Russia believes that Ukraine by itself is incapable of carrying out the attacks deep inside Russia. It depends on satellite imagery, overflight reconnaissance supplied from outside. However, this is exactly what he was saying after the first year of the war when the issue of Britain and France’s Storm Shadow missiles and Germany’s Taurus was hot – that such weapons would have to be programmed by their foreign suppliers. The war has moved on from those missiles to drones which are made in factories recently listed by the Russian Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Putin’s silence now releases the Europeans from any fear of Russian response to their ongoing acts of war against Russia that are doing so much damage to energy and other infrastructure.
I have not stayed tuned for the long, very long questions from the audience. In fact the Q&A is still going on two hours after I dropped out. There is only so much empty talk that I can tolerate. I do note, though, that they passed the microphone to the highly regarded foreign affairs expert Sergei Karaganov early in the Q&A, In past sessions, Karaganov has been an open critic of the gently, gently war of attrition conduct of the war put in place by Putin. Today? His question was empty, irrelevant – something about what plans Russia has for the economy in the new territories it has taken from Ukraine. Clearly Karaganov was stage managed and they shut him up.
Copyright Gilbert Doctorow, 2026
"Putin’s silence now releases the Europeans from any fear of Russian response to their ongoing acts of war"
That is one interpretation. But remember the old stage director's advice to his actors who were getting ready to stage a fight -- a fist held back is more threatening than a fist shoved forwards.
Secretary of War Hegseth recently responded to a dumb question from a media correspondent by reminding the questioner that in war one does not tell the other side what you are going to do and when. The fact that President Putin effectively declined to answer the question on attacking the Euros -- while making it very clear that Russia knows the Euros are behind the war -- was arguably the most appropriate response he could give.
Should the Euros be able to carry on with their aggression and sleep comfortably in their beds? Probably not.
Here's another take on Putin's bizarre and disgraceful performance at Valdai. This is worth watching on Dimitri Lascaris podcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqy_fLCfe3w
The highlight of absurdity was when a Turkish journalist (one of only two questioners who were not sycophants) stated that Israel had attacked 5 countries in the Middle East, and what did Putin think about that? Putin looked stunned, and scowled, then asked for a repeat of the question, which the Journalist then made crystal clear, and finally gave the answer that it was up to the Israeli people in their wonderful democracy to decide !!!!
So, the answer to the question of what to do about the Jews attacking everyone, is that the Jews will have to decide what to do.
Unbelievable.