Valdai Discussion Club

Why are the French-speaking countries of Africa uniting faster? The formation of modern African countries was influenced by the France-Afrique system, which France created in the second half of the 20th century and used for more than 40 years. In the 1950s, for President Charles de Gaulle, policy on the African continent was part of the country’s foreign policy development within the framework of the concept of the greatness of…

On May 27, the Valdai Discussion Club, in partnership with the Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies (ISRS) under the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, will hold a Russian-Uzbek conference. The theme of this year’s meeting is “Russia and Uzbekistan: Priority Areas of Cooperation”. The conference will be held at the Valdai Club headquarters in Moscow. The Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies under the President of the Republic…

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an important document, which everyone celebrates but mostly ignores, has both Article 16, which clearly defines the defence of the natural family, and Article 18, which determines the right to freedom of religion and its public manifestation, Misa Djurkovic writes. In late April, Iran hosted its first conference dedicated to the Eastern Approach to Human Rights. My colleague Stevan Gajić and I were the…

On May 16, 2025, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled “Security in the Asia-Pacific: Between Deterrence and Cooperation”. Moderator Timofei Bordachev, noted that although Eastern Europe currently remains the centre of geopolitical tension, the Asia-Pacific, where the interests of the most important global players converge, also periodically produces alarming news and trends, including those related to the strategic competition between the US and China, as well as the…

There can be no true multipolar transition – and no successful de-dollarisation – without the Ummah: a two-billion-strong social and political force poised to play a central role in the ongoing great power competition, Emmanuel Pietrobon writes. The BRICS+ alliance has come to include more and more Muslims. It is no coincidence, but a predictable inevitability: there can be no Multipolar Transition without the Ummah. Energy-rich, strategic autonomy-hungry, and fiercely…

It is obvious that Russian companies organizing the transportation of Russian oil with the involvement of both domestic and foreign ship owners will have to invest in additional measures to ensure fleet insurance, its environmental and physical safety, aimed at countering the above-described steps of unfriendly countries, including possible new sabotage operations against ships, Evgeny Tipailov and Ivan Angulo write. In the first months of 2025, the world media was…

Having signed a "big" treaty with Poland in Nancy, France is continuing to establish special ties with other individual EU member states while at the same time expecting to rely on Brussels in a long-term confrontation with Russia, writes Alexey Chikhachev, Associate Professor of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations at St. Petersburg State University and leading expert at the Centre for Strategic Studies at…

The Taliban hopes to send a signal to Pakistan by increasing its participation in the Chabahar port transit project that it which is not a militia group affiliated with this country, rules an independent country and has various options in foreign policy as well as trade and transit.  The Chabahar Transit Project was created on May 24, 2016 as a combined, multimodal network of ships, rails, and road freight routes…

One of the most resonant events at the beginning of Donald Trump's second term in office was the large-scale increase in tariffs on imports to the United States. The new tariff policy affected almost all trading partners, and separate duties were introduced for a group of more than seventy countries. This “trade war against the whole world” became another shock of the first hundred days of the new administration. The…

The fact is that the changing balance of power on a global scale and the inability of previous leaders to maintain their positions causes a fundamental restructuring of the international order. It has become a common opinion in recent years. It is difficult to argue with its validity: first of all, because the power base has really changed – there is no longer a group of countries in the world…

Russia is to hold a parade on Friday to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. The main point of parades is not the parade itself, but to move on to the future world we want to build after the parade. This is what both Russia and China are doing, with their leaders, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, meeting in Moscow during the celebrations. Both…

Today, the central commemorative event of Victory Day celebrations in Russia is the military parade. The main parade traditionally takes place on Red Square in Moscow, with additional military parades being held simultaneously in numerous other cities across the Russian Federation.  Historically, the first Victory Parade took place on Red Square one and a half months after the end of the war in Europe – on June 24, 1945. It…

As we approach a major anniversary, 80 years since the defeat of fascism, a strange silence hangs over my country, Macedonia, and the broader region we now call the “territory of former Yugoslavia.” National authorities have been under sustained external (Western) pressure for years: May 9 must no longer be associated with the victory over fascism. Year after year, in both public memory and the education system, May 9 has…

It appears that the Victory of May 8th and 9th in France is more and more viewed by the present generations as a US victory, as if memory and history had been defeated by another, more powerful, level of “consciousness”: fame, Olivier Roqueplo writes. May 9th is Victory Day in Russia and it should unite most Europeans. But unfortunately, even in victorious France, history, real memory and the public imagination…

On May 6, 2025, the Valdai Club presented a Valdai Paper titled “Immortal Letters of Victory” on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Soviet people’s victory in the Second World War. It included previously unpublished handwritten materials from the war – fragments of the front-line diary of Guard Sergeant Petr Nosov, letters from partisan Tamara Avalyan, orphanage worker Nina Mayer, and senior lieutenant Vasily Lazarevsky. Oleg Barabanov, the moderator…

Turned yellow over time, soldier’s letters – pieces of paper folded into triangular shapes sent from the frontlines with field post office postmarks – and diaries are unique witnesses of the unparalleled feat. They still hold the warmth of our compatriots’ hands, their faith in and hopes for peaceful life, and the truth of 1,418 sleepless nights. Simple, and occasionally sad, these documents, imbued with the spirit of heroism, have…

The emergence and evolution of civilizational consciousness and identity in Africa unfold within a context marked by profound identity crises and shifting mentalities, shaped by contemporary sociocultural and political transformations, Elena Kharitonova writes. African history, marked by profound sociocultural, political, and psychological upheavals, brings to the fore the complex issue of identity. These transformations – whether affecting individuals, communities, ethnic groups, or entire civilizations – sharply raise questions of self-determination…

The EU is no longer sustained by peace and prosperity – it’s running on panic. And that panic is destroying the very foundations it once promised to uphold, Kancho Stoychev writes.  Every narrative posing as analysis hides a climax. And every analysis, this one included, is subjective. That doesn’t eliminate the necessity for objectivity. The common refrain, “the European Union is in crisis,” conceals a deeper turning point with two…

However, in practice, such opposition has not yet been observed. Congress has not shown much activity regarding Russia, even at the level of bills. Since the beginning of 2025, that is, in less than five months, five bills have been introduced in both houses of Congress implying sanctions against Russia. For comparison, there are 10 bills against China and seven bills against Iran. We are talking only about bills that…

BRICS+ stands at a critical crossroads, navigating the delicate balance between reforming existing global governance structures and ambitiously seeking to redefine them. At the heart of this evolution lies the dynamic between Russia and India – a relationship marked by both deep strategic cooperation and underlying geopolitical strains, Pravesh Kumar Gupta writes. In an era of heightened geopolitical flux, the post-COVID-19 global order appears increasingly fractured. The once-harmonious narrative of…

If McKinley symbolizes “greatness” for Trump, Mexico embodies many of the country’s problems. Back in 2015, when announcing his first presidential campaign, Trump declared: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best... They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” While the idea of renaming the Gulf was first floated at Trump’s press conference on January 7, 2025, it’s likely that the president had long been bothered by the reference…

On April 21, on the eve of the International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace, which is celebrated under the auspices of the UN, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled  “The Boundaries of Reason: The Diplomat’s Work in New Realities.” The moderator of the discussion, Anton Bespalov,called the fading of traditional diplomacy in the West and its flourishing in the Global South an important element of the new…

Programme of the 2nd “Valdai – New Generation” Conference of the Valdai Discussion Club Moscow, April 23 – 25, 2025   From April 23 to 25, the Valdai Discussion Club will host a conference for participants of its Valdai – New Generation project at its Moscow headquarters. Valdai – New Generation is a dynamic community of researchers under 35, united by their pursuit of innovative solutions to the most pressing…

In terms of geoeconomics, Asia has grown increasingly strategic. The emergence of China, India and other new economies like Indonesia has put Asia in a strong position to support global expansion and to encourage collaboration with African nations. The most recent development is the growing possibility of South-South cooperation through diplomacy in the spirit of the Bandung Conference. The engagement of Indonesia's younger generations will provide innovation and new perspectives.…

Trump's Foreign and Military Policy  In a series of articles, even before the announcement of Trump's tariffs, we examined the foreign and military policy of the US President.  The contradictions in Trump's policy support the view that his goal, along with the faction of big Capital that has rallied behind him and Mr. Netanyahu, is a strategic retreat. They realise that the West is not capable of achieving the objectives…

Greenland’s liberation from Danish colonial rule would inevitably lead to a new form of dependency. The United States has persistently positioned itself as Greenland’s next protector – a role its people will likely have no choice but to accept. The real question is whether Trump will accelerate this process to achieve his goals before his term ends, writes Valdai Club Programme Director Anton Bespalov. When Donald Trump first proposed purchasing Greenland from Denmark in 2019, many dismissed the idea as absurd.…

Neocolonialism is the main means by which Africa is dominated by its former metropolises and other Western countries. By supporting African countries’ struggle against modern neocolonialism, Moscow is returning to the traditions of international solidarity it inherited from the Soviet era, which in some respects were established during an earlier stage of Russian history. Neocolonialism is the main, although not the only form of Western domination in Africa. Not all…

On April 8, 2025, the Valdai Discussion Club hosted a presentation of the report titled “The Evolution of the BRICS Value Platform.” The discussion was moderated by Oleg Barabanov, the author of the report and programme director of the Valdai Club, who proposed discussing what the BRICS values ​​are and how they are used in real political activity. Pavel Knyazev, Sous-Sherpa of Russia to the BRICS, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian…

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, Middle Eastern countries have increasingly figured into the international agenda as mediators in the dialogue between the West and Russia. Not only do they actively participate in humanitarian initiatives, such as prisoner exchanges, but they also influence key aspects of the negotiation process. Against this background, Riyadh stands out in particular, having become the venue for the first round of high-level talks…

On March 25, Israel’s legislature, the Knesset, approved the country’s budget for the current year, preventing the collapse of Benjamin Netanyahu's government. At the same time, the ratio of military to civilian spending, the attraction of funds from the Israeli Citizens Fund and a number of accompanying factors have turned the document not only into the main financial plan, but also a kind of political plan for the future, Elizaveta…

The degradation of US-China relations and ASEAN’s inability to effectively cope with the most sensitive security challenges have called into question the central role of the Association and created a fundamental dilemma for the ASEAN - how to organically fit into the emerging regional and global order and not lose its relevance, writes Alexander Korolev. During the Cold War, the centre of gravity of the confrontation between the US and…

On March 31 – April 1, 2025, the Russian-Chinese conference titled "Space of Joint Development: Global and Eurasian Dimensions” was held in Shanghai, organized by the Valdai Discussion Club and the Centre for Russian Studies at East China Normal University. The event served as an important platform for discussing the strategic aspects and prospects for the development of the partnership between Russia and China. The main focus of the conference…

On April 8 at 15:00 Moscow Time (GMT+3), the Valdai Club will host the presentation of a new report, titled “The Evolution of the BRICS Value Platform”. BRICS has become a significant association for the leading countries of the global majority, and has attracted more and more participants, partners and observers. From the very beginning, the image of BRICS as an alternative to the West has prevailed in the perception…

The engagement of Central Asian states with the Taliban-led Afghan government has drawn significant regional and global interest. While the Central Asian republics view the Taliban as partners for economic connectivity, regional stability, and counterterrorism cooperation, Pakistan is approaching the situation from a perspective shaped by its historical ties, strategic priorities, and pressing security concerns. Pakistan, much like Central Asian states, has sought to enhance trade, regional connectivity, and security…

The BRICS+ model While the EU offers an excellent example of rivals-turned-allies, which have agreed to give up a bit of sovereignty for the sake of collective benefit, BRICS+ is one of the most underrated and perhaps misunderstood platforms of our times. The EU functionalist model could be adopted by apolitical ASEAN, and to some extent there’s room for applicability within the EAEU. BRICS+, however, belongs to a different championship:…

On March 27, the Valdai Discussion Club Conference Hall in Moscow hosted a discussion titled “The Crisis of Growth in NATO or the End of Atlantic Unity?” The event was moderated by Timofei Bordachev, Professor at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club. He noted that now the Transatlantic unity, which gave birth to the concept of the ‘Collective West’, has…

Priceless black gold The oil and oil products sector is more predictable and is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future: Russia supplies hydrocarbons to all Central Asian countries, while of these nations, only Kazakhstan has significant oil reserves (although it does not own most of the extracted oil). In 2024, oil and gas condensate production in the Republic of Kazakhstan amounted to 87.8 million tonnes, of which two thirds…

Pakistan’s indigenous AI capabilities, exemplified by its Burraq and Shahpar-II drones, signify its determination to counterbalance India’s advancements. These platforms, while still evolving, have demonstrated the potential to contribute to Pakistan’s broader strategic objectives. Moreover, AI’s utility in countering non-traditional threats — such as cross-border terrorism and hybrid warfare — adds another layer to its strategic relevance. Along the Line of Control and the Durand Line, AI-enabled surveillance systems and…

On March 24, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion on the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty between Russia and Iran. Moderator Ivan Timofeev described the signing of this treaty as one of the most significant foreign policy developments in recent years. He highlighted the shared interests between Russia and Iran, particularly in light of the comparable pressure both nations face from Western countries, which has laid the political groundwork for…

Until then, Hungary will have to endure growing pressure on sovereign forces within the EU, primarily targeting itself. With changes in America, the centre of gravity for progressive globalist politics is shifting to Western Europe by default, complicating the position of patriots. At the same time, Trump’s return has a clear positive effect for European sovereigntists, particularly Orbán. Good relations with the US president could not only help the Hungarian…