This conference is the Russian government answer to the annual Munich security conference, the high-level gathering of veteran Cold Warriors and advocates of the Atlanticist geopolitical agenda.
In recent years, the Munich conference has become quite extensively infected by a serious case of Russo-phobia and Kremlinoia (the word I coined, defined as a paranoid attitude toward the Kremlin), so that it is no wonder that the Russians have decided to set up their own venue for expert security and military discussions and exchange of ideas. I have no doubt that they had invited most of the Munich crowd, but the list of speakers shows that none of them showed up. It is a proven fact that in the Atlanticist vision of the world, Munich and Moscow cannot come together as partners of equal strength. However, the absence of the Atlanticists was more than made up by the heavy presence of the top Eurasian military and security officials. The arrogant self-isolationism of the Western powers was once again on full display for everybody to see.