Vladimir Putin believes the Westphalian nation-state model is obsolete, and is ushering in his radical idea of a replacement, based on the idea of the “Noosphere” first popularized by 20th c. Russian “cosmist” Vladimir Vernadsky.

Vernadsky said “to expect ruthless struggles, shocks and tremors, and even an apocalypse” as part of the transition from Biosphere (Bio=life) to Noosphere (Noos=mind). Putin seems to have latched onto this as a mystic prophecy.