The first Defense and Security section meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, to be held in Moscow on May 25-27, will focus on the modernization of Russia’s Armed Forces and cooperation in international security. The meeting was co-organized by RIA Novosti, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technology.
At the meeting, leading military experts, specialists from defense research centers, and international security experts from ten different countries will exchange opinions on the Russian military reform, the participation of the Russian Armed Forces in international security structures, and the prospects for and obstacles facing full-fledged security partnerships. The meeting will include experts from Russia, the United States, the UK, France, Belarus, Norway, Turkey, Germany, Poland, and Japan.
Russia’s potential participation in European missile defense will be one of the top priorities on the agenda. Participants in the meeting will tour major Russian missile defense facilities and meet with top officials from the Russian Ministry of Defense.
“An open exchange of opinion is needed now more than ever. A lack of mutual trust on security issues often stands in the way of sober decision-making, and the experts are here to help,” said Ruslan Pukhov, the director of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technology and a member of the Russian Defense Ministry’s Public Council.
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004 by RIA Novosti, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, The Moscow News, Russia in Global Affairs, and Russia Profile. The club is named after the location of its first meeting.
The club was designed to develop and sustain a dialogue between Russian and foreign scientists, politicians, and journalists, and to promote the analysis of political, economic, and social issues affecting both Russia and the world.
Valdai Club conferences, held both in Russia and abroad, have attracted dozens of leading political scientists from all over the world. Over the club’s eight years of existence, more than 400 scientists and scholars from 35 countries have contributed to its work.