"Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind," [...] "It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict. Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world."
Remember, he's old, probably a bit tech incompetent (compared to most people here).
> [Russia] could have focused on building huge datacenters.
Maybe that's what you think is important (or even what is important), but Putin is a different creature