For the past two decades, the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum has served as a stage for Russian President Vladimir Putin to impress foreign guests and showcase his strength. Indeed, the glitzy annual event in Russia’s second city has become so closely associated with the Kremlin dictator that it is routinely referred to as “Putin’s Davos.”
This year’s forum was supposed to be an opportunity for Putin to reset the narrative following months of unfavorable headlines focusing on mounting Russian economic woes and a lack of progress in Ukraine. Multiple American influencers had been recruited to attend, while Chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., became the first US official in years to visit the forum. Though Cooks noted he was representing the United States as a minister of culture not as a politician.
Things did not go according to plan, however. As delegates prepared to attend the opening of the forum, long-range Ukrainian drones penetrated Russian air defenses and struck a series of targets across St. Petersburg including a major oil terminal and a naval base. Putin’s flagship forum duly began hours later with the city shrouded in smoke from burning energy infrastructure.
