U.S.influencers and an administration official arrived in Russia just as Vladimir Putin, the country’s president, needed a publicity boost.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The small group of Americans flew in as the St.
Petersburg International Economic Forum, or SPIEF, often dubbed Russian Davos, opened on June 3 in the port city.The annual conference serves as a promotional vehicle for the country as Putin seeks to project strength and global power.
Officials say this year they are receiving 20,000 guests from over 100 countries, with 76 countries sending high-level representatives.Putin has increasingly faced setbacks on the battlefield as a Ukrainian drone strike campaign disrupts critical logistics routes and public support at home wanes.The forum opened to plumes of black smoke rising above St.
Petersburg after a Ukrainian aerial attack damaged a naval base and an oil terminal, part of increased strikes targeting Russian oil infrastructure.Candace Owens, a popular right-wing podcaster and a onetime ally of Donald Trump’s, became perhaps the most visible American guest at the forum, which also included Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the U.S.Commission of Fine Arts, which has been overseeing the White House ballroom construction.
Elsewhere in Russia, manosphere bloggers Andrew and Tristan Tate, dual U.K.-U.S.citizens, have filmed from Moscow, where they took selfies in Red Square and sipped cocktails at a rooftop bar.
They did not attend the forum.Their presence may deliver a domestic propaganda victory to Putin, experts say, as Russians become dissatisfied with the cost of the war.The Ukrainian bombardments have constricted the supply of gas in the oil-rich country and there are reports of Russians in several regions having to line up at the pump for hours at a time.
“They want the propaganda value of implying that there’s some kind of economic thaw between the United States ...