Putin's speech at the 43rd Munich Security Conference in 2007 was, at the invitation of Chairman Horst Teltschik, the first speech by a Russian head of state at the Security Conference. The main topics of his speech on February 10, 2007 were the "Unipolar World Order", NATO's eastward expansion, disarmament and the Iranian nuclear program. Putin's speech is seen as Russia's message to the West that it will not accept a subordinate role in world politics. Thus, the speech marked a significant change in Russian foreign policy and signaled a more assertive and independent stance on the international stage. Putin made it clear that Russia is ready to defend its interests and take a more active role in shaping the global order.
The speech caused a sensation worldwide. Participants and the media spoke partly shocked of an incendiary speech and a new Cold War.
In retrospect, critics see Putin's statements as early signs of Russia's imperial turnaround, which led to the Ukraine war and threatens the Western order. The Russian government and supporters of the speech see it as an early and clear warning from Putin against the alleged hegemonic claim of the USA. The USA, NATO and the EU are said to have ignored this warning and subsequently provoked a military conflict in Eastern Europe instead of accepting and promoting a multipolar world order.
Preparations.
The invitation to Vladimir Putin was extended by Horst Teltschik, the long-time chairman of the Munich Security Conference. Teltschik had met with Putin on numerous occasions since 1999, including private meetings. In May 2006, Teltschik visited Putin in Sochi and discussed the possibility of his participation. He proposed that Putin use the platform to present his position openly and candidly to an audience of significant international resonance.
Teltschik informed Angela Merkel of the discussion in a detailed letter but reportedly received no response. According to historian Peter Hoeres, a key statement from Putin during this exchange, as relayed in Teltschik’s 2024-published diary, read: "Relations between Russia and NATO must first be clarified and further developed before Ukraine can join NATO; otherwise, NATO will be considered an enemy by Russia."
Angela Merkel last met with Putin on January 21, 2007, in Sochi to personally outline her objectives for Germany's concurrent EU and G8 presidencies, which began on January 1. One of her goals was to renew the EU-Russia cooperation agreement, particularly on energy supply issues.
In her 2024 autobiography, Merkel described the meeting with Putin as tense, marked by his accusations, particularly regarding the Iraq War and planned deployments of medium-range missiles, which Putin considered a direct threat to Russia. Merkel suggested Putin should address the matter directly with George W. Bush.
In the days leading up to the conference, Sergei Ivanov had strongly criticized NATO, particularly the United States. Ivanov had brought public attention to the dispute over U.S. plans to deploy missile defense systems in Eastern Europe, according to journalist Eckart Lohse.
The night before his speech, Putin met with Minister-President of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber at the "Vier Jahreszeiten" hotel in Munich. Defence Minister Ivanov and his son joined the meeting later. 
Putin arrived in Munich with a delegation of 200 staff members. His convoy included a specially armored Mercedes S-Class vehicle, followed by other vehicles, including a ZiL limousine.
Synopsis.
Putin criticized what he called the United States' monopolistic dominance in global relations, and its "almost uncontained hypertrophied use of force in international relations". The speech came to be known, especially in Russia, 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." 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?"
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? And what happened to the assurances our western partners made after the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact? Where are those declarations today? No one even remembers them" 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. 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."
Reception.
Senator Joe Lieberman stated that the speech was "provocative" and marked by "rhetoric that sounded more like the Cold War". Former NATO secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called it "disappointing and not helpful." The months following the Munich speech 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.
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."
Legacy.
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. According to Andrew A. Michta, Western leaders failed in 2007 to recognize the speech "amounted to a declaration of war on the West." 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.
Putin later made other speeches that were called follow-ups to the Munich speech, including:
References.
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