Russian President Vladimir Putin’s flagship St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) has recovered from the downturn from Covid-19 and Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but participation by Western countries has all but disappeared. Prior to 2022, SPIEF was a must-visit event for all international investors in Russia, and regularly hosted notable world leaders, including President of France Emmanuel Macron, then-Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and former Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, and long-time Finnish President Sauli Niinistö. The Forum also hosted impo…
