Russia is a distinct civilization that must be protected through genetics and other advanced technologies, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview that aired Sunday.
Putin told state television that “it would be impossible to secure the future of our civilization” without artificial intelligence, genetics and unmanned vehicles, as well as hypersonic weapons.
“Russia is not just a country, it’s really a separate civilization. If we want to preserve this civilization, we should focus on high-level technology and its future development,” Putin said.
“These new technologies have appeared and they will change the world, they’re already changing it,” he added.
Russia should watch other countries’ innovations, Putin said, “but never forget that we have a solid base of our own.”
“Without basic science, research schools and engineers, we would never have had the modern types of high-tech weapons that no other country in the world has, at least as of yet.”
Putin’s remarks for the “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” weekly show on the state-run Rossia television channel were recorded in September 2019.
The interview was first broadcast Sunday, days after Putin chaired a meeting on genetic technology where the CEO of state oil giant Rosneft asked for a tax exemption for its investments in the field.
Putin’s rumored daughter, endocrinologist Maria Vorontsova, has been reported to be supervising the work of Rosneft’s genetic research center that plans to sequence and analyze its 350,000 employees.
Putin allocated almost $2 billion toward genetic research in 2018 and decreed last year that all Russians be assigned “genetic passports” by 2025.
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