Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the general assembly participants at the 23rd annual meeting of the Russia-based think tank Valday Discussion Club and made evaluations on international security architecture, artificial intelligence technologies, Eurasian vision and geopolitical ruptures since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
President Vladimir Putin, who addressed many topics from diplomatic contacts in 1990 to current military conflicts in his speech at the meeting and the question-answer session that followed, stated that Western capitals destroyed the balance established after the Second World War with unilateral moves.
Criticizing the approaches of the management team in the last period of the Soviet Union in the first part of his speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, "I would like to draw attention to the naivety, stereotypes, idealism and possibly carelessness of the people who were at the helm of the country in the last Soviet years. They blindly trusted Western partners. They were sure that gentlemen's agreements, where you trust your interlocutor's word, would be enough; this played a cruel trick on the Soviet Union."
Pointing out the destructive effects of this approach, the Russian President said, "Looking back, it is clear how destructive a role this played for the history of the Soviet Union and long-term world stability. Soviet leaders wanted the West to love them, and Western leaders wanted to reshape the world according to their own tastes and cut off the share of the Soviet legacy. The bigger the better, and we see how things turned out."
Referring to the reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union, Putin said, "The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted from a combination of internal imbalances, we must be honest about this. Mistakes made by successive generations of the country's administration, lack of foresight, narrow-minded and erroneous ideological patterns instead of pragmatism, unprofessional approaches and underestimation of obvious problems were effective. All these eroded the internal and external position of the Soviet Union step by step and brought about its collapse."
Pointing to the origin of the conflicts that shook the world, President Putin said, "As a result, the ongoing conflicts and shocks that engulf the world at large are the fruit of the unwillingness or inability of politicians, both in the West and in the East, at the end of the 20th century to look seriously and deeply at the monumental changes they faced. This is not to put the blame on someone else, this is a fact."
Stating that some European leaders analyzed the risks correctly at that time, Vladimir Putin brought up the contacts of Egon Bahr, a board member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Noting that he was astonished when he read the archive records Bahr conducted with the Soviet leadership in Bonn and Moscow in June and February 1990, Putin stated that Bahr's predictions were confirmed.
Expressing the concerns of the German politician, the Russian President said, "The issue that Bahr was most worried about was the threat of the continuation of the confrontation in Europe even after the unification of Germany, and the strengthening of the positions of the circles within NATO that are far from entering the path of all-European cooperation and ending this confrontation."
Referring to Egon Bahr's words during the negotiations in 1990, Vladimir Putin conveyed the following assessment of the German official:
"Unless decisive steps are taken to overcome the division of Europe into hostile blocs, developments may evolve in a very unfavorable direction that will condemn the Soviet Union to international isolation."
Sharing Bahr's solution proposal, Putin said, "So what did he propose instead? As a matter of fact, his predictions eventually turned out to be true. What was proposed instead? There was a proposal to establish a European Council equipped with broad powers, with the participation of both the United States and the Soviet Union. It was envisaged to cover almost the entire Central and Eastern Europe. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West witnessed the victory of these powers, which, according to Egon Bahr, were far from entering the path of cooperation covering all of Europe."
Criticizing the response that Russia's foreign policy pursued in the West, the Russian leader said, "Despite Russia's long-term efforts to become a part of the so-called Western civilization, in practice, I would like to emphasize that these circles are doing their best to isolate Russia and complete the dissolution of the Russian Federation. Because, despite all the changes taking place within Russia, they saw it as a key part of the historical Russian Empire. They still say 'We must complete the dissolution of Russia' at different events and different meetings. All these are facing Europe and the world." "It created the current dangerous situation in which we remain."
Emphasizing the role of historical consciousness in the existence of the state, Vladimir Putin said, "The legacy of our ancestors, who built a great and unique country, must be strengthened and enriched. Without a historical basis, without respect for traditions, no society can survive. However, the opposite is equally true: The past loses its meaning without the future."
Stating that a strategic framework should be drawn despite the uncertainties about the future, the Russian President said, "When it comes to the future, most of the future is actually shrouded in uncertainty because many elements are variable and uncertain. Russia is building such a road map for itself, but it is ready to work with other countries and peoples on a similar road map for the world."
Drawing attention to the level that global tensions have reached, Putin said, "It will be revealed that the logic of escalating tension stems from arrogance and overconfidence, and that this is what pushes us to the edge of the cliff. Currently, the world's leading countries have weapons that can wipe out all life or at least drag the earth to catastrophic consequences. Can we be sure that these weapons will never be used? Unfortunately, we cannot be sure."
Reminding the classic rule regarding theater scenes, Vladimir Putin said, "You know, there is a famous saying: If there is a gun hanging on the wall at the beginning of the play, it will definitely fire at the end of the play. Therefore, the more irreconcilable the counter actions are, the more clearly the strategic defeat goal is declared, the more likely the conflict will enter the most violent phase. Because the struggle for survival takes place not only in nature, but also in social areas where people face the possibility of losing their independence, dignity and existence."
Evaluating the impact of technological developments on security balances, Vladimir Putin focused on the use of artificial intelligence systems in the military field.
Stating that there are discussions about slowing down artificial intelligence research in the world in order to prevent it from getting out of human control, Putin noted that technical progress cannot be stopped, but its consequences must be understood.
Referring to the potential of artificial intelligence to make their own decisions in civil and military fields, President Putin said, "Humans cannot compete with the instant decision-making and analysis capacity of machines. However, humans have other abilities such as intuition, the ability to think outside the box and the ability to produce the right solution."
Recalling an event from history, the Russian President said, "I would like to remind a story from the Soviet period in September 1983. Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov was the officer on duty and received an alarm from the early warning system. The alarm was that five American intercontinental ballistic missiles had been launched. Any algorithm would have seen this as a reason for a counter-attack. However, this officer was experienced, doubted the accuracy of the warning, thought there was a malfunction in the system and was right. If an artificial intelligence had been in his place, the situation would be very different." "It could have resulted," he said.
Pointing to the risks of automation in military technologies, Vladimir Putin said, "Artificial intelligence increases the effectiveness of war, which brings about the destructiveness of conflicts. What we need is an impartial, professional international discussion on modern war. Automation and digitalization of military operations lead to its gamification; it seems that bloodshed and loss of human life have turned into a computer game. Let's be frank, this situation causes humanity to decline and drift into barbarism."
Reminding that Russia was one of the pioneers of the 1899 Hague Conference, Putin stated that respect for humanitarian norms is a professional obligation and noted that the Russian army is not the first to target facilities that are not directly related to the enemy's military infrastructure.
