Excerpt from the speech given by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the plenary session of the 20th meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, titled "Fair Multipolarity: How to Ensure Security and Development for Everyone," Sochi, October 5, 2023.

Source: kremlin.ru

🇷🇺VLADIMIR PUTIN:

"The United States and its satellites have firmly set a course for hegemony - military, political, economic, cultural, even moral and ethical values. It was clear to us from the very beginning that attempts to establish a monopoly were doomed to fail.

The world is too complex and diverse to be subjugated to a single scheme, even if it is backed by the immense power of the West accumulated over centuries of colonial policy.

Your colleagues - many are not here, but they do not deny that the prosperity of the West was largely achieved thanks to the plunder of colonies over the centuries. This is a fact.

In fact, this level of development was achieved by plundering the entire planet. The history of the West is essentially a chronicle of endless expansion. Western influence in the world is a huge military-financial pyramid that constantly needs new 'fuel' to sustain itself - natural, technological, human resources belonging to others.

Therefore, the West simply cannot stop and never intended to do so. Our arguments, exhortations, calls to reason, and suggestions were simply ignored."

Russia proposed to join NATO, but they refused

" They rejected Moscow's proposal to join NATO. The West, a certain part of the Western elite, always needs an enemy ," he pointed out.

Putin: “We were not the ones who organized a bloody coup in Kiev; it wasn’t us who intimidated the Crimeans and Sevastopol residents with purges; we weren’t the ones who tried to force the Donbass to obey and threatened violence against those who wanted to speak their native language. It is the Kiev regime that has been waging war on Ukraine for the past ten years.”

Putin on nuclear weapons

In Russia's military doctrine, there are two reasons why nuclear weapons can be used: an attack on Russia and a threat to Russia's survival, said Russian President Vladimir Putin .

Russia's response to a nuclear attack on its territory is absolutely unacceptable for any aggressor, there is no chance for them to survive. No one in their right mind would think of using nuclear weapons against Russia, he said.

"Sarmat" will soon go on combat duty, the Russian president said.

Full statement:

Putin: The Ukrainian crisis is not a territorial conflict, I want to emphasize this. Russia is the largest, most territorial country in the world. We have no interests in terms of conquering any additional territories. We still have Eastern Siberia and the Far East to explore and develop. This is not a territorial conflict. And not even the establishment of a regional geopolitical balance. The issue is much broader and more fundamental: it is about the principles on which the new world order will be based.

Top quotes from #VladimirPutin at the Valdai Club meeting earlier today:

“BRICS doesn't need a single currency, yet. Instead, it needs to establish a settlement system in national currencies.”

“NATO is, first and foremost, a tool of U.S. foreign policy."

“We will expand our interaction with China in the security sphere”

“Russia’s budget deficit will be 1% of GDP this year and next year”

“Western influence over the world is a giant Ponzi scheme."

“The desire to drive the world into a situation of constant confrontation between 'us' and 'them' is a vicious legacy of the 20th century and Western political culture. The West always needs an enemy."

⚡️🇷🇺🇺🇦 Putin:

“Ukrainian units lost 90 thousand people as irretrievable losses during the counteroffensive”

PUTIN: "They keep saying 'you have to', 'you must', 'we are seriously warning you.' Who are you to tell us that? Do you have any right to give us warnings? ...

It's time to get rid of this colonial thinking. It's time to open your eyes. That era is long gone. It's never coming back."

"If he doesn't know that during the war Hitler and his henchmen fought against Russia then he's an idiot."

Putin reacts to Canada's parliament Nazifest.

"I don't understand why the Serbs are a target in the West. In the early 1990s, Russia was also a target, they wanted the USSR to collapse. Serbia was ready for anything and wanted everything, but they were under pressure. Many times I heard that they are the weak link and that they should be pressed. This is a paradigm that has been created. Serbs are not that kind of people. Serbia is not that kind of culture. It is impossible to destroy Serbia," said Vladimir Putin.

- "Serbs cannot be broken and subjugated," he added.

Putin:

They are trying to replace international law with order. What order? Based on some rules. What rules? What rules are these? Who invented them?

I don't understand it at all. It's just bullshit, nonsense! But it's what they're trying to instill in the minds of millions of people. We have to live by the rules. What rules?

And in general, our Western colleagues, especially those from the United States, do not just set arbitrary rules. But they also teach them - who and how they should fulfill them, who and how they should behave in general.

All this is done and said, as a rule, in a frankly boorish form. This is the same manifestation of colonial thinking. All the time we hear: you must, you are obliged, we are seriously warning you.

Who are you people? What right do you have to warn anyone?

Putin: Europe has lost its sovereignty, what will such a partner do for us?

"Europe was forced to make decisions that were detrimental to it, it did so because of the loss of sovereignty. And, now I ask, what does such a partner do for us? We are leaving the European market, which is slowly shutting down," said the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Purin .

- "Russia is largely moving away from the declining European market towards growing markets, including Asia," Putin said and reminded that Europe, after abandoning Russian energy sources, buys them from the United States, but at a 30 percent higher price

In the US, the delay in supporting Ukraine is due to problems with the budget, but in the end, money will be found and more will be printed. For the USA, printing money and scattering it around the world costs nothing; during the covid period they printed more than 9 trillion dollars - Putin

The World Economic Forum’s Klaus Schwab is a “Globalist Terrorist” who is “holding Humanity to Ransom…” -President Vladimir Putin

Putin: The West needs an enemy

Western elites need an enemy, and fighting it can be an explanation for expansion and maintaining control in a particular system. For example, within NATO, said Russian President Vladimir Putin .

"The enemy exists - everyone should gather around the boss" , noted Putin , speaking about the political culture of the West. At the same time, various reasons for coercion are invented, non-existent threats are fueled. According to Putin, Russia is a favorite topic of politicians, but they make everyone, China, and in certain situations India the enemy.