Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that the world risks sliding deeper into instability as the coronavirus pandemic combines with global rivalries and other international tensions.
Speaking by video link during a virtual meeting of the World Economic Forum, Putin pointed at growing inequality and unemployment and a rise of populism as potential triggers for new conflicts that he said could plunge the world into a “dark anti-Utopia.”
“The pandemic has exacerbated the problems and disbalances that have been accumulating,” the leader said.