Moscow (TDI): Russia’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum opened this week with an unlikely American contingent; a Trump-appointed government official, a conservative media personality, and a Hollywood action star.
The forum, once a magnet for Western leaders and investors, now draws a far more eclectic crowd. This year’s American attendees include US Commission of Fine Arts Chairman Rodney Mims Cook Jr., conservative podcaster Candace Owens, and actor Steven Seagal.
Dubbed Russia’s Davos, the forum has seen Western participation steadily decline following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ukrainian drone strikes hit St. Petersburg, which is also Putin’s hometown, just hours before the event got underway Wednesday.
From the US, the most diplomatically charged presence was Cook’s; who was appointed to his commission by President Donald Trump.
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He is the first US official to attend SPIEF since 2017, and the Kremlin wasted little time exploiting the optics, describing him as the leader of the first official US delegation at the forum in many years.
Cook himself told Russian state media he had received clearance from both Trump and the State Department for the trip.
But this did not meet a nod back home in Washington where Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday that he was “not aware” of an official delegation attending.
It is unclear whether Cook’s appearance represents a quiet thaw in US–Russia relations, a freelance diplomatic venture, or simply a personal trip.
Cook appeared as a panelist on a “Russia–US: A Cultural Dialogue” session alongside Seagal and Russia’s Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova.
Seagal, a longtime fixture of Kremlin-friendly events, received the Russian Order of Friendship from Putin in 2024. Owens, described as a first-time visitor to Russia, spent several days in Moscow with her family, posting tourist photos online, before traveling to St. Petersburg for the forum.
