Russia’s President Vladimir Putin referred to the Jewish holy book the Torah, stating that technologies and science cannot completely replace basic traditional values.

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Vladimir Putin made the comment while responding to a question about whether modern technologies and science can replace values, such as territories and people.

“All that you’ve mentioned remain the eternal main values. It’s not a coincidence that the Torah says that giving up the territories is a great sin,” Putin said at the Valdai Forum in Sochi on Thursday.

“The territories, the natural treasures and the people remain the most important factors.”

The importance of technology, which supplements basic values, however, is great and increasing, Putin said.

“But changes are coming at such a pace… that it’s obvious: the science and technology factor becomes decisive in the military and foreign policy spheres. And these changes have an irreversible nature,” the president said.