Valdai Club

We need to think not only about today or the short-term future, but about our long-term challenges as well. These are global challenges, such as the aging population, ecological problems or climate change. This is also a long-term strategy problem for Russia, which includes, for example, the exploration of Siberia.

Climate change, permafrost melting will affect energy installations in the northern areas of Russia. The Arctic oil could cause tremendous environmental disaster, in terms of oil leakages, in the Arctic Sea. Russia can't possibly manage that alone.

President Vladimir Putin believes that the tenth annual conference of the Valdai Club will he held in a special format and will include discussions of a wide range of current issues

President Vladimir Putin discussed the opposition with Valdai Club members and advised U.S. and European experts to try to be objective about relations between the Russian authorities and the opposition.

During his meeting with members of the Valdai International Discussion Club, Vladimir Putin talked about the current state of the Russian economy and scenarios for Russia’s economic development.

If there had been any expectations among Russia watchers of “a new Putin” coming back to the presidential office after the elections, they must have been finally put to rest after the Russian president’s meeting on Thursday with a group of political scientists and economic experts known as the Valdai Club.

Low oil prices are likely to erode the Russian economy like they did in the ‘90s. Whereas with high oil prices, we may – just may – succeed in rebuilding the national economy to move it away from its commodity dependence.

Lack of efficient institutions and the political will to reform them were the buzzwords among the strategists and experts in economics and public policy at the Valdai Club’s 9th annual conference on Russia’s trajectory.

Russian leadership outside the country is a step higher in quality than inside. In Russia, leadership is facing the risk of stagnation these days, and the profit-driven motivation of senior government officials has become all too obvious.

The key foreign risk for Russia is the so-called "parting" with Europe. Currently, Europe and Russia cannot find common ground even on mutually beneficial issues. The key domestic risk is the continued unrest in the Caucasus.