We reported today on remarks made yesterday by Vladimir Putin at an event in the city of Sochi.

The Russian president was speaking at the Valdai Discussion Club, a Moscow-based think tank and discussion forum that has been held annually since 2004.

Mr. Putin remained on stage for just over four hours, first addressing those in attendance before engaging in a question-and-answer session.

He addressed several topics during this period, including the war in Ukraine, the election of Donald Trump and the currently tense relations between Russia and the West.

Russia ‘ready for peace talks’

Mr Putin said Moscow was willing to start peace talks in Ukraine, but only if it reflected the “realities on the ground today”.

The president previously said he would accept peace in Ukraine if kyiv cedes territories currently occupied by Russian troops in four different regions.

“We are ready to engage in peace talks, but not on the basis of ‘Oh, we want that’ from Ukraine, which changes from month to month,” Mr Putin said.

He said negotiations should not focus on finding a truce “for half an hour or six months”, as this would give kyiv time to “receive another delivery of shells”.

Negotiations, Putin said, should instead be based on “creating a favorable environment for the restoration of relations and future cooperation in the interests of both nations.”

“The march of history cannot be stopped”

Mr. Putin littered his opening remarks at the event with warnings to the West, which he said was risking a “global catastrophe” through its actions.

“Western calls to inflict strategic defeat on Russia, the nation with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, reveal the reckless adventurism of some Western politicians,” he said.

“Such blind confidence in their own impunity and exceptionalism could lead to global catastrophe.”

He added that Western countries were trying to “cling on to their waning power.”

“However, these efforts fail to achieve the desired result, namely the maintenance of absolute and uncontested power. For the march of history cannot be stopped.”

Mr Putin said “some Western elites” wanted to thwart the development of a new international system centered on “the interests of the world majority”.

“Unlike our counterparts, Russia does not view Western civilization as an adversary, nor does it pose the question of ‘us or them,'” he said.

“I repeat: ‘You are either with us or against us’ is not part of our vocabulary. We have no desire to teach anyone or impose our worldview on anyone either.”

On the “brave” Donald Trump

Mr Putin was asked about Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States, for which the Russian president congratulated him.

He also said he was ready for dialogue with the president-elect and congratulated him for his “courageous” reaction to the assassination attempt perpetrated on his life in July.

He said that “Mr. Trump’s behavior at the time of the attempt on his life impressed me.”

“He turned out to be a brave man,” he said. “And it’s not just a raised hand and a call to fight for our common ideals and those of theirs…

“He behaved, in my opinion, very correctly, courageously, like a man.”

Mr. Putin said he felt Mr. Trump was “hounded from all sides” when he was the previous president, and added: “I don’t know what will happen now.”

“I have no idea. For him, this is his last term. What he’s going to do, these are questions for him.”

The Russian president added that what Mr. Trump said “about the desire to restore relations with Russia, to help end the Ukrainian crisis, in my opinion deserves at least attention.”