2007 Munich speech of Vladimir Putin

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Putin delivers the Munich speech with the United States delegation led by Senator John McCain and Joe Lieberman and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates watching on in the background. |  |

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The 2007 Munich speech was given by Russian president Vladimir Putin in Germany on 10 February 2007 at the Munich Security Conference. The speech expressed significant points of future politics of Russia driven by Putin.[1][2][3][4]

## Synopsis

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Putin criticized what he called the United States' monopolistic dominance in global relations, and its "almost uncontained hyper use of force in international relations". The speech came to be known, especially in Russia,[citation needed] as the Munich speech. He said the result of such dominance was that "no one feels safe! Because no one can feel that international law is like a stone wall that will protect them. Of course such a policy stimulates an arms race."[5] Putin quoted a 1990 speech by Manfred Wörner to support his position that NATO promised not to expand into new countries in Eastern Europe. He stated "[Worner] said at the time that: 'the fact that we are ready not to place a NATO army outside of German territory gives the Soviet Union a firm security guarantee.' Where are these guarantees?"[5][6]

Although NATO was still a year away from inviting Ukraine and Georgia to become NATO member-states in 2008, Putin emphasized how Russia perceived eastward expansion as a threat: "I think it is obvious that NATO expansion does not have any relation with the modernisation of the Alliance itself or with ensuring security in Europe. On the contrary, it represents a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust. And we have the right to ask: against whom is this expansion intended?" Putin also publicly opposed plans for the U.S. missile shield in Europe, and presented President George W. Bush with a counter proposal on 7 June 2007, which was declined.[7] Russia suspended its participation in the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty on 11 December 2007, with the Kremlin commenting: "Seven years have passed and only four states have ratified this document, including the Russian Federation."[5]

## Reception

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In response, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates dismisses Putin remarks as blunt spy talk. Senator Joe Lieberman stated that the speech was "provocative" and marked by "rhetoric that sounded more like the Cold War".[8] Former NATO secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called it "disappointing and not helpful."[9] The months following the Munich speech[5] were marked by tension and a surge in rhetoric on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Russian and American officials, however, denied the idea of a new Cold War.[10]

The Polish Institute of International Affairs described Putin's quotation from Manfred Wörner's speech as lacking appropriate context, stating that Wörner's speech "only concerned non-deployment of NATO forces on East German territory after reunification."[6]

## Legacy

[edit]

Before and after the launch of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the speech was revisited with some commentators arguing it to be a revealing moment of Putin's later intentions.[11][12][13][14] According to Andrew A. Michta, Western leaders failed in 2007 to recognize the speech "amounted to a declaration of war on the West."[15] Other commentators, like John Mearsheimer and Stephen F. Cohen, would cite it as Putin's most explicit warning that Russia perceived NATO's eastward expansion as a threat to its national security.

## Follow-ups

[edit]

Putin later made other speeches that were called follow-ups to the Munich speech, including:

* The 2013 Valdai speech of Vladimir Putin in Sochi on 19 September 2013
* The Crimean speech of Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly of Russia on 18 March 2014
* The 2014 Valdai speech of Vladimir Putin in Sochi on 24 October 2014
* The 2015 U. N. General Assembly speech of Vladimir Putin in New York on 28 September 2015 ("I'm urged to ask those who created this situation: do you at least realize now what you’ve done?")[16]

## See also

[edit]

* European Security Treaty
* Foreign policy of Vladimir Putin

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Putin says U.S. Wants to dominate world". Reuters. 10 February 2007. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
2. ^ Shanker, Thom; Landler, Mark (11 February 2007). "Putin Says U.S. Is Undermining Global Stability". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 October 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
3. ^ "Putin rails against US foreign policy". Financial Times. 10 February 2007. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
4. ^ "Putin Slams US for Making World More Dangerous | DW | 10.02.2007". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
5. ^ a b c d "Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy". kremlin.ru. 10 February 2007. Archived from the original on 8 November 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
6. ^ a b Kupiecki, Robert; Menkiszak, Marek (2020). Documents Talk: NATO-Russia Relations After the Cold War. Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych. p. 375\. ISBN 978-83-66091-61-0. Archived from the original on 9 December 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2021 - via Pism.pl.
7. ^ "Press Conference following the end of the G8 Summit". kremlin.ru. 8 June 2007. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
8. ^ "Gates dismisses Putin remarks as blunt spy talk". Reuters. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
9. ^ Watson, Rob (10 February 2007). "Putin's speech: Back to cold war? Putin's speech: Back to cold war?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 20 February 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2019.
10. ^ "Munich Conference on Security Policy, As Delivered by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, 11 February 2007". DefenseLink. United States Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 14 February 2007.
11. ^ Fata, Daniel (7 February 2022). "Putin Announced His Manifesto Against the West Fifteen Years Ago. His Story Hasn't Changed". The Bulwark. Archived from the original on 11 October 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
12. ^ Ignatius, David (20 February 2022). "Putin warned the West 15 years ago. Now, in Ukraine, he's poised to wage war". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
13. ^ Fried, Daniel; Volker, Kurt (18 February 2022). "The Speech In Which Putin Told Us Who He Was". Politico. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
14. ^ Rachman, Gideon (9 April 2022). "Understanding Vladimir Putin, the man who fooled the world". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
15. ^ Michta, Andrew A. (7 August 2022). "China, Russia and the West's Crisis of Disbelief". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
16. ^ "70th session of the UN General Assembly". kremlin.ru. 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2019.

## External links

[edit]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Speech and the Following Discussion at the Munich Conference on Security Policy

* Video of the speech with English subtitles
* Tenth Anniversary of Putin’s Munich Speech: A Commitment to Failure — Jamestown Foundation, 2017
* The Daily Vertical: 10 Years Ago Today, Putin Declared War (Transcript) — RFERL, 2017

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