Vladimir Putin spoke at the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, dedicating a significant part of his speech to confrontation with Europe, stating that Russia «never initiated military confrontation», and European elites «are stirring up hysteria». He cited the detention of a «shadow fleet» tanker in France, calling it piracy. According to him, the detention of the vessel — is an attempt by the French authorities to distract their citizens from internal problems.
He noted that Russia is closely monitoring the militarization of Europe, observing, «whether these are just words or if we need to prepare a response». «If someone wants to compete with us, let them try: to each their own — freedom», — Putin concluded.
He also urged Ukraine to «think» before attacking the Zaporizhzhia NPP, although earlier OSINT projects proved that the attacks came from the Russian side. «And people on that side should also understand: if they play so dangerously with this (strikes on the Zaporizhzhia NPP), they have other working nuclear power plants on their side. And what prevents us from responding in kind? Let them think about it», — said Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, he expressed maximum friendliness towards the USA, stating that uranium trade with the USA continues, last year Russia earned about 800 million dollars from it, and in Alaska, Trump «listened attentively, did not interrupt». He added that if Kyiv uses Tomahawk, it will damage Russia-USA relations.
Putin also touched again on the topic of the USSR's collapse, stating that the Russian leadership decided on the «dissolution» of the USSR to get rid of ideological confrontation with other countries. «By the way, I think that the dissolution of the Soviet Union was also related to the position of the then Russian leadership to get rid of any ideological confrontation in the hope that now, when everything, with communism over, now brotherhood will ensue. Ha, no, nothing of the sort. There are other factors, geopolitical interests. It turned out that ideological contradictions have nothing to do with it», — Putin stated.
Putin decided to justify the actions of modern Russia with Pushkin, he read an excerpt from the poet's work «Borodino Anniversary», stating: «Pushkin seemed to tell me „take a volume with you to Valdai, read poems“».