The Valdai Discussion Club conference was held under the title “Russia: History and Future Development” from August 31 to September 7, 2010 on the Kronshtadt motorship during a trip across the country’s North-West.
The choice of Leningrad Region was deliberate: the route across Lakes Ladoga and Onega traces the initial leg of the White Sea–Baltic Canal. Constructed in the 1930s under Stalin by the forced labour of political prisoners, the canal served as a powerful historical backdrop. Leading historians, political scientists, international relations scholars, and journalists were convened to re-examine 20th-century Russian history. Their task was to identify the events that have hindered Russia’s progress and to reframe the narrative surrounding them, with the ultimate aim of stimulating national modernization.
Over 90 experts and political scientists attended the conference. The global academic elite represented 17 countries: Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Experts from the Czech Republic and Ukraine participated in the work of the discussion club for the first time. The new attendees included: Dominic Lieven, professor of Russian history at the London School of Economics and Political Science; Zvi Magen, researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies; Bruno Sergi, Professor of International Economics at the Faculty of Political Sciences in the University of Messina; Adam Michnik, Editor-in-chief of the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper (Poland); Robert Legvold, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, director of The Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative; Richard Pipes, American historian, expert on Russian and Soviet history; Sinan Ogan, President of the Turkish Center of International Relations and Strategic Analysis; Arnaud Dubien, Director of Russia and CIS Programmes at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs in Paris.
Five discussion panels were organized: “Roots of the Historical Trend of Concentration of Power in Russia”, “Russian Experience of Modernization and Current Attempt of a Leap Forward”, “Russia and Its Neighbours: Ideal and Feasible Modes of Interaction”, “New Context of the Geopolitical Orientation: ‘Come on to Asia!’ or ‘Back to the Union of Europe?’”, “Russia and the World: Could Russia Change as Others Want to See It? How Russia Sees Its Future.”
Furthermore, in St. Petersburg, attendees met with local government officials; in Moscow, they met with officials from the Government of the Russian Federation; and in Sochi, a meeting with the President of the Russian Federation was arranged for the experts.
