“Russian Davos” with No Western Journalist Accredited – St. Petersburg International Economic Forum to Strengthen Russian Isolation?

ISLAMABAD: Editor’s Desk – The Petersburg International Economic Forum will be held on June 14-17 – Russian propaganda manifests it as “Russian Davos”. For the first time in the history of the PIEF, not a single Western journalist has been accredited to participate in it, at the same time, such odious figures as Oleksandr Dugin, who publicly calls for the complete genocide of Ukrainians, will be present. Given the full-scale war launched by Vladimir Putin against Ukraine, the PIEF will be politicized, and the countries attending the event will be classified by Kremlin propagandists as “friends of Russia.”

Without a doubt, the Kremlin will try to use the forum site as a starting point for circumventing sanctions and working out positions that will facilitate the import of components for the production of missiles in the future, because currently the Russian economy is completely subordinated to the goals of the war. This event should be discredited – a terrorist state officially professing a misanthropic ideology and seeking to destroy an entire nation on ethnic grounds, which does not have the right to dialogue with the civilized world.

This year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will be another attempt by the Kremlin to gain support of those countries that can be useful against further war in Ukraine and to exert pressure on the West. The PIEF will be visited by numerous delegations from Egypt, the People’s Republic of China, India, Turkey. This event will be covered by media representatives of 33 countries.

At the same time, according to Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin refused accreditation to journalists from “unfriendly countries” that oppose the war of aggression started by Russia. Thus, the Kremlin is creating a split at the international level, promoting a confrontation with the West and trying to create a coalition of like-minded people.

The PIEF is a potential opportunity for Russia to establish the necessary connections to circumvent sanctions: the Russian military-industrial complex is very dependent on the import of Western components that are used in the process of manufacturing missiles.

The shortage of such components significantly slowed down the production of cruise and ballistic missiles: as soon as the Russian Air Force receives a new batch of such weapons, they are immediately used against peaceful Ukrainian cities. Russia is carrying out the genocide of Ukrainians – after the failure of all the goals of the war that Vladimir Putin set for himself, this became his main goal.

Therefore, any dialogue with a terrorist state that kills civilians is unacceptable. The PIEF should be boycotted. Given the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine, taking part in an event under the auspices of the Kremlin, which is completely politicized in the context of Russia’s attempts to create an anti-Western coalition, is counterproductive. Russia should be subjected to more powerful additional sanctions and isolation.