PoliticsMay 22, 2026 12:30 pm • 2 min readParticipants walk past a giant screen broadcasting Russia's President Vladimir Putin's address during the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg on June 7, 2024. (Olga Maltseva/AFP via Getty Images)Chairperson of the U.S. Fine Arts Commission Rodney Mims Cook will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, he told Russian state-owned media outlet RIA Novosti on May 22.The visit would mark the first known attendance by a representative of a U.S. president's administration at the forum in several years. Last year, after Donald Trump returned to the White House, Washington declined to send an official representative to the event.The chairperson told RIA Novosti that both the forum's organizing committee and the U.S. State Department confirmed his invitation and that he plans to attend.The Kyiv Independent has reached out to the State Department for a comment.Cook became chair of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in January 2026. He is also the founder and president of the National Monuments Fund and previously worked with the World Monuments Fund as a Russia specialist.Before taking the post, Cook served as an independent expert on the restoration of the Resurrection Cathedral at the New Jerusalem Monastery in Russia. He also spoke at the Russian Embassy in Washington and delivered lectures on architecture at the Kremlin Armory.The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is Russia's flagship annual business and investment conference and is often described as the country's equivalent of the World Economic Forum in Davos.For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the forum serves as a platform to project economic resilience and signal that Russia remains open for business despite Western sanctions and diplomatic isolation.During last year's forum speech, Putin proclaimed that "all of Ukraine" belonged to Russia.This year's forum is scheduled to take place from June 3–6.