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 important international executives, such as the heads of multinational oil companies, and journalists from across the globe.

SPIEF in 2024 looks very different. 

Following Putin’s decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the event has almost been completely abandoned by Russia’s former Western partners. The majority of Western companies have shunned the event, while multinational oil and gas heavyweights – once staples of the forum – have opted not to send their executives. 

In place of Western leaders, this year’s event will be attended by Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Bolivian President Luis Arce, President Milorad Dodik of Republika Srpska, and Prime Minister of the Central African Republic Felix Moloua. Other countries have sent high-ranking ministers, such as Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia, and Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, the Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates.

The one EU minister scheduled to take part is Peter Szijjarto, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary.

This year’s event is based on the theme of “Transition to a Multipolar World Economy,” with a particular focus on cooperation between Russia and its allies in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS. Topics covered will range from dedollarisation and new trade routes to technological sovereignty and artificial intelligence. 

The forum will also play host specific stands promoting investment in Russian regions, including those located in Ukraine, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2022. Both the Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic have their own booths.

As is customary, the event will culminate in a plenary session on June 7 attended by President Vladimir Putin. Like in previous years, Putin will likely be joined by other world leaders, either physically or virtually. In 2023, the guest was Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Despite the lack of western representation, Russian presidential advisor Anton Kobyakov has boasted that more than 17,000 people and 3,400 media representatives from 136 countries and territories will visit the event, meaning it has reached pre-war and pre-Covid levels.

“SPIEF is currently acting as one of the sovereign centres of global development, fulfilling a historically unique mission to maintain the global balance of power and build a multipolar international system, creating conditions for development based on a unifying and constructive agenda dictated by Russia's national interests,” he said. 

“Today we can confidently say that the period of restoration of business activity is over and we are in a growth phase. The 2019 figures have been surpassed, which suggests that the forum is in demand by the global business community as a communication tool and that interest in it continues to grow.”