Although the traditional meeting takes place behind closed doors pronouncements of the Russian President to a "group of Russia experts" (they, plus several Russian colleagues make up the club) are sometimes leaked to the world press.
Now that the video of the talk is available on the Kremlin website the information has lost some of its lure of the forbidden fruit. But that still leaves the meetings of the club as such, several off-the-record thematic sessions. What was said in the meetings and over lunch? What questions were discussed by the people whose opinion goes a long way to shaping the West's policy with regard to Russia (the East is hardly represented in the club)? What is the mood of these people? It is no secret that in a few months the ideas expressed at the Valdai Club will find their way into public statements by top officials and to some extent into the media. That is what the expert community is for.
Below are some of the questions and ideas expressed by the foreign participants in the Valdai meetings that I have jotted down. It has to be said that according to the rules of the club such information can be divulged, but without attribution.
So: Russia today is playing the role of architect of the new world order and contributes to the change of the rules of the game in the world economy. It may blow up the OSCE and PACE and sweep aside some security treaties. Its membership of the WTO is under question. But does Russia have sufficient resources to be able to turn its back on Europe and create new integration models in Asia? And can Europe afford to distance itself from Russia, by slowing down Russian (and Chinese) investments in Europe?
The question as to Russia's place in the West's conflict with other civilizations is still unclear. So far Russia has opted for a special position in the conflict, but the West should seek to cooperate with it.
Russian society has survived three ideological leaps in 20 years, to wit, the reform of communism, the introduction of an extreme form of liberalism and the creation of a strong state. Does it not promise more leaps in the future? Is the period of ideological quests over?
The members all agreed that it is a very sensitive internal political issue for Russia, so experts should carefully watch the debate in Russia in the coming years.
While last year the club discussed Russia's role as an energy power and made a trip to the oil-producing Khanty-Mansiisk area, this year one of the topics was: Russia and Islam and the future of religions. Below are some of my jottings on that theme.
Could we see a resurgence of interest among the Russian republics in seceding from Russia as their economies develop? (Tatarstan's President Mintimer Shaymiyev, this year's host of the club, had this answer: "No one wants to be totally independent from Russia, either ethnically or economically").
What do Kosovo and Tatarstan have in common and in what way do they differ? (Shaymiyev's answer: they shouldn't have launched ethnic cleansing against their own people).
Conclusion of the club members: the separatist wave in Tatarstan and other parts of Russia is a thing of the past.
More from my notes: What, after all, is the West? It used to be the Christian civilization, but now the East European and other countries are sometimes also included in this notion. That may mean that Orthodoxy may return to the common European home, something that was not on the agenda before. Russia can be used as a model of the functioning of a Muslim community in a Christian country, which may be interesting for Europe, which is being actively Islamized. On the whole, the world is facing drastic changes in the coming decades whose nature no one has yet seriously discussed.
Even these scrappy notes indicate a cautious search for models of cooperation with Putin's Russia. In other words, there is a distinct difference of tone from the ongoing propaganda duel over values between the Western and Russian media (and within the latter). It is also noteworthy that the representatives of the Russian opposition, who traditionally attend these meetings, are seen by foreign participants as important, but not the only sources of information and ideas. "We just want to understand why these people failed, given their unlimited access to money and the media at one time," one club member said.
Nevertheless, the question of who will succeed Vladimir Putin and what that would spell for Russia appears to be more important. And it is unlikely that the answers given to the Valdai Club by Putin, Sergei Ivanov and the leaders of major parties were enough to assuage the information hunger of the foreign Russia watchers. But at least they were lucky to be the first people in the world to be able to discuss these things at the highest level within hours of the announcement of the new Russian government and the real kick-off of the election campaign.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
