The Russian president covered a wide range of topics at a packed event in Sochi on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin attended a session of the annual Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi on Thursday. The Russian leader delivered a keynote speech, took part in a panel discussion, and answered questions from the audience.Over the course of nearly four hours, Putin touched on a wide range of issues, including the conflict in Ukraine, the evolution of global politics, ties with the US, and what he described as the decline of Western civilization.Multipolar world as a response to Western hegemonyThe world is undergoing “rapid and drastic changes,” Putin said, adding that it is “easy to get lost” in a model where nothing is truly “determined.” The rise of a multipolar world is a natural response to the heavy-handed policies of the West, he argued.“Multipolarity has become a direct consequence of attempts to establish and preserve global hegemony, a response by the international system and history itself to the obsessive desire to arrange everyone into a single hierarchy, with Western countries at the top. The failure of such an endeavor was only a matter of time,” he stated.Erosion of democracyPutin insisted that the very concept of democracy is deteriorating in the West.“Democratic electoral procedures have been turned into farce, attempts to manipulate the will of the people – it won’t work. We’ve seen this in Romania, for example… It happens in many countries,” he said. In 2024, Romania’s top court annulled the results of the presidential election, citing fraud and foreign meddling, while frontrunner Calin Georgescu was barred from participating in the rerun.Putin further argued that institutions such as the OSCE have become politicized and biased, while the EU is no longer the “powerful civilizational center” it once was.The West should focus on its own problemsPutin dismissed claims that Russia intends to attack the EU or NATO, saying politicians who promote such fears are either “grossly incompetent” or “crooked” and lying to their citizens.“Honestly, all I want to say is: relax, sleep well, or address your own issues,” Putin said, urging the EU to focus on migration and economic problems instead.Russia can’t afford to be weakHistory shows that weakness is not an option for Russia, Putin argued. For some, he said, “it creates temptation, an illusion that disagreements with us can be resolved through force.”He argued that the Ukraine conflict has transformed the Russian army into one of the most combat-ready forces in the world, with the ability to “rapidly adapt” to challenges.“If we’re at war with the entire NATO bloc… we have to be confident in ourselves, and we are confident,” Putin said. France resorts to piracyAsked about France’s seizure of an oil tanker allegedly belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to bypass sanctions, Putin compared it to piracy. He downplayed the incident as an attempt to distract voters from domestic issues.“What do you do with pirates? You destroy them. What else should be done to pirates? This doesn’t mean a war will break out across the world’s oceans tomorrow, but the risk of collisions will certainly increase sharply and significantly,” Putin warned.Not a paper tigerPutin rejected US President Donald Trump’s recent description of Russia as a “paper tiger,” suggesting Trump may have been speaking ironically. He stressed that the Russian army has been steadily making gains and inflicting heavy casualties on Ukrainian troops. “What’s next? Well, in that case, go and confront this paper tiger. But, as you can see, the reality on the ground is different,” he said. Putin claimed that Ukraine lost nearly 45,000 soldiers in September alone, adding that Russia is de facto “at war with the whole of NATO.” At the same time, he praised Trump for being willing to listen to Russia’s arguments during negotiations.Tomahawks would not tip the scalePutin warned that the delivery of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine would not change the course of the conflict, but would further escalate tensions with the US.Although some Western media had suggested Trump was considering providing the missiles, Reuters reported on Thursday that shipments were unlikely since the US had none available to spare.The delivery of such weapons would mark “a new stage of escalation,” Putin said, arguing that Ukraine could not operate them without direct US military involvement.Murder of Charlie Kirk shows rift in US societyPutin expressed condolences to the family of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated by a sniper last month in Utah.The “despicable crime” was “a sign of a deep rift in society,” the Russian leader said.