Putin Warns Next Two Decades Could Be Even More Challenging for the World

"Looking back over the past 20 years and considering the scale of changes, then projecting such changes onto the coming years, one could assume that the next two decades will be at least as challenging, if not more so," Putin said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club.

The Valdai International Discussion Club is an organization bringing together leading foreign and Russian experts in political science, economics, history, and international relations.

The club was established in September 2004 through the initiative of RIA Novosti news agency, the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, and the journals *Russia in Global Affairs* and *Russia Profile*. The club takes its name from the location of its first conference, which was held in Veliky Novgorod near Lake Valdai.

Valdai is one of the world’s premier platforms for dialogue between Russian and international intellectual and political elites.