MOSCOW(Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Saturday that journalists from “unfriendly countries” would not be allowed into the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which President Vladimir Putin has used to showcase the Russian economy to global investors.
The forum in St. Petersburg, the former imperial capital built 300 years ago by Peter the Great as a “window” to Europe, has been held since 1997, and many officials have taken Russia’s response to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Western journalists have never before been banned from the forum in such a blanket way
“This time, indeed, it was decided not to accredit publications from unfriendly countries to SPIEF,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS, using the forum’s acronym.
“There will always be a lot of interest in SPIEF and all the other journalists will work on the site,” Peskov said. “Unfriendly country” is the definition Russia uses to describe countries it has sanctioned over the war in Ukraine.
Forum organizers told Reuters Moscow bureau on Friday that the journalist’s accreditation had been revoked after it was confirmed earlier.
Reuters has asked for a written explanation, but has yet to come up with one.
As Russia boomed in the 2000s, big Western investors and investment bankers flocked to the forums to tap into the explosive growth of Putin’s first decade.
But in recent years, Westerners have been replaced by Chinese and Arab investors. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak at last year’s forum.
Putin, a former KGB spy from St. Petersburg, says Russia is turning to China and Asian powers because the West is waging economic and hybrid warfare against Russia aimed at tearing the country apart. He said it was because he came.
In 2021, Putin told forum participants that “large events and forums like this really bring people together and bring people from different countries closer together.”
“Russia will facilitate these meetings as much as possible, as well as the exchange of experience and the demonstration of breakthroughs in science and technology,” Putin said.
This year’s forum will be held from June 14th to 17th.
