Valday

And for that reason, they're not that interested to give economic discounts.

Even so, it was two, three weeks ago, I was in Moscow and Putin was giving a speech at Valdai and he was making someone ask whether or not Russia might restore its energy relations with Europe.

And he said, well, sure, but you have to compete now with the Chinese and Indians.

So there's no privileged position anymore.

He knows perfectly well.

He has his residence in Valdai, or whatever that thing is, a bunker surrounded by 55 air defense systems.

And right nearby, there are ruined houses, destroyed kindergartens, and so on.

Right in the immediate vicinity.

Personally, I think that the Russians came to that decision at the end of last year after the Ukrainian-American conflict.

let's say, Ukrainian and American attack on Putin's Valdai residence.

I think that the Russians decided then that Trump couldn't be expected to deliver a peace agreement.

And I think they also decided that Zelensky himself is absolutely not a reliable negotiating partner.

And in September, he told NATO that if they isolate Kaliningrad, Russia would use its entire arsenal, including nuclear.

At Valdai in October, he repeated it.

So you've got the doctrine on one side and the military layer on the other, with Kaliningrad as the western jaw of the pincer and Belarus is the eastern jaw.

From Talon's side, it doesn't matter whether Belarus is a client or a co-belligerent.

We've seen that effect in the queues outside petrol stations, the fights, the bans on exporting diesel and the price rises.

But President Putin, speaking at his Valdai economic forum, uh, which is taking place in Moscow, admitted that it had hurt.

He said there has been damage.

He said it's not critical, but damage nonetheless.

So [laughs] it's the same thing.

Uh, Vladimir Putin said in Valdai on October 1 that this direct attack or a blockade of, uh, Kaliningrad is there.

So there's, uh...

The danger is in this aggregation and attribution and in what this, uh, this, uh, Grinkewich was, was, uh, putting down.

But, you know, uh, he was talking about Article 5.

He's talking about the victory plan, the strategic defeat of Russia in a two-day security conference, uh, held in Poland, right? And talking about Article 5 doesn't require that everybody go to war, even w- after an attack.

Putin was clear at Valdai to say, "Look, if they come after us, you know, we're, we'll, we'll defend ourselves with everything we have available." Well, look, if Putin, he's threatening us, but the week before, or yesterday, day before, well, it was a week before, too, there was another general got up and said something similar.

Well, this guy now doubled down on it, Grinkewich, in, uh, the Polish, uh, security conference two days ago, the Warsaw Security Conference.

And I think that, coupled with the disharmony now between Europe and the United States of America under a very turbulent and unpredictable Donald Trump, this is the, the real issue.

And the Russians, as Mr. Putin said in Valdai, you know, a week ago, he was asked, you know, "Do we need to intervene and try and peel someone off and break the European Union so we can talk to them?" And Mr.

Putin said, very much like, uh, uh, you know, the Soviet, uh, leadership said post-Khrushchev, "We don't need to do anything.

These people are gonna destroy themselves."

And that's, of course, something that Russia now, um, uh, says is not a neutral act.

And actually, Vladimir Putin said so in Valdai, um, that they interpret that as, uh, you know, not a neutral, uh, act.

And the Swiss keep saying, "Oh, but we're neutral militarily." But of course, the Russians couldn't care less.

Well, you know, it, it's a direct result, I would guess, of the fact that Switzerland is part of the German, French, and maybe Italian mediaverse.

And, and, um, uh, the, the, the, uh, ferocious, uh, information warfare that has accompanied this, uh, this terrible abuse of Ukraine and Ukrainians, um, uh, on behalf of, uh, a kind of quixotic charge at a Russian windmill, um, mistaking it for a giant.

Um, this, you know, has, has, uh, reinforced Russophobia, uh, to an extent that I find quite unbelievable.

Um, you know, uh, our friend Ian Proud, um, uh, on his return from Valdai, which you mentioned, um, uh, was accosted and detained at the Heathrow Airport.

His laptop and phone and so forth were, were confiscated.