Page 44 - bne IntelliNews monthly magazine December 2024

44 I Eastern Europe bne December 2024
Putin gave one of his regular strategy speeches at the Valdai club, where he laid out his updated vision of how he thinks the world should be. These speeches are very illuminiating, as he has several recurring themes. / bne IntelliNews
Putin lays out his view of the new world order in Valdai speech
Ben Aris in Berlin
President Vladimir Putin took the stage at the Valdai Discussion Forum on November 7 in Sochi and laid out his idea on what the new world order should look like.
The speech lasted over three hours, where he decried what he termed the West's "neocolonial policies" and the erosion of "traditional values."
The annual event addresses a select group of journalists, academics and
in better days, leading international journalists covering Russia. It is a pseudo-intellectual summit, part policy and part platform for the Kremlin.
Putin depicted Russia as the linchpin of a "multipolar world," asserting that “Russia’s existence” secures “diversity,
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variety, and complexity” on a global scale, which he argued are essential to “successful development.”
Putin’s “new world order doctrine” can be broken into six points:
• Openness between states;
• The absence of “universal dogmas”;
• The necessity of considering each country’s voice in making “global decisions”;
• The rejection of certain interna- tional blocs (this apparently doesn’t apply to the BRICS+ organisation, but is a jab at Western-led bodies like the G7 and IMF);
• Closing the developmental gap between countries; and
• Pursuing equality for all peoples.
• Over the years Putin has given a number of key addresses where he has outlined changes in the Kremlin’s basic policies.
Following the forum, the Kremlin issued guidelines to state-aligned media and government-approved analysts, which were obtained by Meduza, a Russian news website. Notably, they omit any mention of Putin’s remarks where he admitted that he had congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump on his victory on November 5 or the potential for peace talks with Ukraine. Instead, the guidelines position Putin’s speech