Russian President Vladimir Putin has described NATO as a “blatant anachronism” and accused the United States of using the alliance to maintain dominance over its sphere of influence. Speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday, Putin argued that NATO operates under the “diktat of the older brother,” referring to the US, and that it is no longer relevant in today’s global politics.
In contrast, Putin praised the BRICS nations for their collaborative approach, highlighting the group’s summit in Russia the previous month as an example of constructive global cooperation. He used the occasion to launch a broader critique of Western powers, particularly the US, accusing them of seeking to strategically weaken Russia through their involvement in the ongoing Ukraine conflict.
Putin warned that the West’s ambitions to defeat Russia were reckless, citing the country’s status as the holder of the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. “The calls of the West to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia demonstrate the exorbitant adventurism of Western politicians,” he said. The Russian leader also noted that after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the West had tried to label Russia as a defeated power, and he asserted that Russia did not see Western civilization as its enemy, despite Western efforts to isolate Moscow.
The Russian president emphasized that the global landscape was rapidly changing and that many powerful nations no longer wished to isolate Russia. “The former structure of the world is irrevocably disappearing,” he said, adding, “A serious, irreconcilable struggle is unfolding for the formation of a new one.”
Putin concluded by declaring that the world still needs Russia and that no decisions made by the US or its allies in Washington or Brussels could alter this reality.
