- Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Valdai Forum on Thursday.
- He discussed issues including Trump’s victory and Taiwan.
- The Russian president said he’d be open to discussing Ukraine with Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday congratulated Donald Trump on his US election victory in a wide-ranging speech that was followed by a three-hour marathon question and answer session.
Putin’s comments were made at his annual foreign policy address at the Valdai conference in southern Russia.
During the event, the Russian president also spoke about China’s position on Taiwan, the US’ influence on NATO, and the emergence of a “new world order.”
Business Insider picked out six of the most notable moments.
Trump’s victory
For the first time, Putin discussed Trump’s victory in the US presidential election and said he was ready to speak with him.
Trump’s “desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion, deserves attention at least,” the Russian president said.
Trump has pledged to rapidly end the war in Ukraine when he takes power, but critics say a Trump-brokered peace deal could result in Ukraine being forced to cede territory.
In an apparent bid to rekindle their relationship, Putin also said that Trump had shown himself “brave” and “manly” during an attempt on his life in July.
Trump told NBC shortly after Putin’s comments: “I think we’ll speak.”
A neutral Ukraine
In addition to getting Trump on the side, Putin used the event to set out his vision for an end to the war in Ukraine.
He said that for a peace deal to be a possibility, Ukraine would have to agree to neutrality.
“If there is no neutrality, it is difficult to imagine the existence of any good-neighborly relations between Russia and Ukraine,” he said.
Without neutrality, Ukraine would be “constantly used as a tool in the wrong hands and to the detriment of the interests of the Russian Federation,” Putin added.
Ukraine has long rejected neutrality as a condition for a peace deal and is seeking NATO membership to help protect itself against Russia.
A new world order
Putin’s mission is not just to seize Ukraine but also to work in tandem with other authoritarian leaders to damage US global power.
In his speech, Putin repeated his belief that a new world order is on the way.
“The former world arrangement is irreversibly passing away, actually it has already passed away, and a serious, irreconcilable struggle is unfolding for the development of a new world order,” he said.
“It is irreconcilable, above all, because this is not even a fight for power or geopolitical influence. It is a clash of the very principles that will underlie the relations of countries and peoples at the next historical stage.”
China ‘reasonable’ on Taiwan
The Russian president backed ally China’s position on Taiwan, the independent island that Beijing has menaced with the prospect of invasion.
“A lot is going on around Taiwan. Everyone formally acknowledges, yes, Taiwan is part of China. But in reality? In reality, it is acting in a completely different direction. Provoking the situation toward escalation,” Putin said.
“We do support China. And because of this, we believe that (China) is conducting a completely reasonable policy. And also because it is our ally. We have a very large trade turnover, we cooperate in the security sector.”
China has long claimed to be the rightful owner of Taiwan, a US ally that’s been independently governed for decades.
Russia has relied on Chinese diplomatic and economic support as it was isolated by the West over the Ukraine war, and it has taken part in joint military exercises with China near Taiwan.
US influence on NATO
Putin, in his remarks, criticized NATO, the security alliance that’s long been the main bulwark against Russian aggression in Europe and which has provided vital help to Ukraine in its war against Russia.
He described the alliance as a “blatant anachronism” that is subject to “the diktat of the older brother,” referring to the US.
Analysts believe that one of Putin’s core goals is to weaken the alliance, enabling Russia to more easily extend its power.
The power of the BRICS nations
Putin contrasted NATO with the BRICS group, a group of non-Western major economies that includes Brazil, India, China, and South Africa.
Russia and China have sought to make the group into an alternative global power base to the US, though some members, including India, have resisted this.
“The prototype of a new, free, and non-bloc character of relations between states and peoples is the community that is currently being formed within the BRICS framework,” Putin said.
“This, among other things, clearly illustrates the fact that even among NATO members there are those, as you know, who are interested in working closely with BRICS.”
A peace deal in the Middle East
On the conflict in the Middle East, Putin called for negotiations to end Israel’s war against Hamas and other Iranian proxies.
Russia has backed calls for Palestinian sovereignty and criticized Israel’s US-backed campaign in what analysts say is likely a bid to undercut regional US influence.
“You know, now we need to strive to reduce the suffering of the Palestinian people to a minimum, to zero. We need to immediately stop the fighting there, we need to do everything so that both Israel and Palestine, in this case Hamas, agree on this,” said Putin.
