The Russian News and Information Agency RIA Novosti, in association with The Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, the journals Russia Profile and Russia in Global Politics, and the newspaper The Moscow News, has, for many years, hosted the Valdai International Discussion Club meeting.
The Valdai Club aims to create an international expert forum where key international Russia specialists can receive authoritative, reliable information about the growth and development of our country and its society from leading members of the Russian elite.

The now traditional attendance of the Russian President at the event underscores its significance.

The club's first summit, Russia at the Turn of the Century: Hopes and Reality, was held in September 2004 in Veliky Novgorod, by picturesque Lake Valdai, hence the forum's name. The forum was well received by both analysts and the media, and the decision was taken that it should be held every year in different regions of Russia.

Since then the Valdai Club has been hosted by Tver, Khanty-Mansi, Rostov and Yakutsk regions, Tatarstan and Chechnya. Over the years the discussion has touched on the following themes: Russia as a Political Kaleidoscope; Global Energy in the 21st Century: Russia’s Role and Position; Choice and Identity: Russia at the Crossroads; Russia’s Role in the Global Geopolitical Revolution of the Early 21st Century; Russia and the West: Back to the Future. Since 2009 the Valdai International Discussion Club has played a special role in facilitating an ongoing dialogue on the most burning issues of Russia’s relations with foreign countries and expert think tanks. This work has included the following conferences: Russia and China in the New International Environment, March 2009, Moscow; Rethinking Russian and U.S. Foreign Policy Interests, June 2009, Moscow; Towards a New European Security Architecture, December 2009, London; Middle East–2010: Is a Comprehensive Settlement Possible?, December 2009, Jordan; Central Asia and Afghanistan: Problems and Solutions, June 2010, Berlin. The Russian-Chinese and Russian-American dialogues that began in 2009 have continued in 2010. The second Russian-Chinese meeting within the discussion club was held in Beijing in April, and a session of the Working Group on the Future of U.S.-Russian Relations was organized at Harvard University in May.