During a recent visit to the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Russian President Vladimir Putin engaged with students and researchers on various scientific topics. Among the discussions, his comments on genetics revealed his perspective on the technology’s transformative potential for humanity.
The conversation about genetics arose when Victoria Tutkina, a second-year Master’s student in Biotechnology, presented her work on genome editing for accelerated plant breeding. Tutkina explained how her project combines biotechnology, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence to develop plants with specific characteristics in just 1-2 years, compared to traditional breeding methods that take 10-15 years.
Putin demonstrated engagement with the technical details, asking whether the plants would be considered genetically modified.
When Tutkina clarified that the process doesn’t involve transferring foreign genes, he acknowledged, “Yes, of course, I agree. As far as I understand, there is currently a revolution happening in this area, absolutely thanks to technologies like these.”
The president emphasized Russia’s need for independence in agricultural technology, noting the country’s position in global grain markets. He called the work “absolutely perfect” and stressed the importance of developing productive seeds domestically.
Following this exchange, Putin offered his assessment of genetic technology’s significance. “As for genetics in general, some believe that this is more, yes, if you look at it from a security point of view, even more serious than the invention of the atomic bomb in its time,” he stated. “This is what could have colossal consequences for humanity. And of course, we not only cannot fall behind here, we need to be ahead. Absolutely. Absolutely.”
This statement reveals Putin’s view that genetic breakthroughs represent a strategic frontier where Russia must maintain competitive advantage. By comparing genetics to nuclear technology, he placed biotechnology advancement within a framework of national security and geopolitical competition.
Similar thinking has emerged in Silicon Valley, where aging itself is increasingly being framed as a technical problem rather than an inevitability. Speaking at the 2026 World Economic Forum, Elon Musk argued that aging is “a very solvable problem” and likely far more obvious in its root cause than people assume.
Pointing to the fact that all human cells appear to age at the same rate, Musk remarked, “I’ve never seen someone with an old left arm and a young right arm,” suggesting the presence of a coordinated biological clock. Once that mechanism is identified, he believes slowing or even reversing aging becomes “highly likely.”
Where Musk speaks in theory, entrepreneur Bryan Johnson is attempting to live the experiment in real time. Johnson, who spends millions annually on monitoring, therapies, and experimentation, believes humanity has entered a brief window where immortality is a realistic scientific target.
“For the first time in the history of life on earth… the window has opened for a conscious being to realistically strive for this goal,” he wrote, setting a bold target of 2039. His approach combines AI-driven analysis, extreme lifestyle control, organ cloning, and constant biological measurement, treating the human body as software that can be debugged.
I’m going to try and achieve immortality by 2039.
One year of time passes and I remain the same biological age.
I invite you to join me.
The search for the fountain of youth is the oldest story ever told. It’s been the dream of dreamers for millennia but always painfully out… pic.twitter.com/BwrU1ckOi6
— Bryan Johnson (@bryan_johnson) December 16, 2025
From state leaders framing biotechnology as a security imperative to tech billionaires treating aging like a solvable bug, it seems like the future of humanity is being engineered in real time.
