DECODED: SPIEF 2026 — Putin’s Forum, the Mirror of a Shrinking Russia

Introduction: The Cracked Showcase

The "Russian Davos" under Ukrainian Drones

On June 3, 2026, as the first delegations arrived at Saint Petersburg's Expoforum for the 29th edition of the International Economic Forum — the SPIEF — Ukrainian drones struck energy facilities and the Kronstadt naval base just a few miles away. Smoke was visible from the forum site itself. This unintended prologue summarized the reality of 2026 Russia better than any speech: a state pretending to project power globally while Ukraine hammers at its gates.

For four days, from June 3 to 6, under the carefully chosen theme of "Pragmatic Dialogue: The Path to a Stable Future", Vladimir Putin orchestrated his annual economic high mass. Twenty thousand participants from over 130 countries, more than 1,084 agreements totaling 6,642 billion rubles — approximately $89.57 billion — and a lineup of heads of state featuring Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. Zero Western heads of state. Zero European Union ministers. None.

Reading Between the Lines of Decline

For those who know how to decode geopolitics, this guest list is a verdict in itself. Where pre-2022 editions welcomed the CEOs of Total, BP, and Siemens, European prime ministers, and G7 central bankers, SPIEF 2026 retreated into Saudi Arabia as the guest of honor, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central Asia. This is not the globalization of a rising power. It is the business card of a shrinking one.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, at a press conference in Kyiv on the forum's opening day, was eloquent: when asked about the Ukrainian strikes in Saint Petersburg during SPIEF, he said he saw no problem with them, comparing the event to the May 9th parade — another staging of Russian normalcy that Ukraine can interrupt at will.

The Russian Economy: The Recession They Dare Not Name

The Figures Putin Didn’t Want to Hear

The coincidence was cruel. On the very day SPIEF opened, Rosstat — the Russian statistics agency — released data showing a 14.3% drop in fixed capital investment in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. In a room full of businessmen who had paid exorbitant entry fees, the conversation about investment was, according to the Oslo Peace Research Institute (PRIO), "awkward." Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov called the figure a non-representative "statistical incident." Translation: the real data is bad, but we won’t discuss it here.

Russian GDP growth slowed from 4.9% in 2024 to about 1% in 2025. The first quarter of 2026 showed a 0.2% contraction. The annual forecast was lowered to 0.4%. Putin, however, preferred to highlight the unemployment rate of 2.2% — the lowest in history — without mentioning that this "full employment" is largely the result of half a million dead or wounded soldiers, hundreds of thousands of skilled emigrants fleeing the war, and a war economy sucking every available arm into military production.

The Absent Central Bank: Symptom of a Rift

Elvira Nabiullina, Governor of the Central Bank and a pillar of Russian monetary policy, was absent from SPIEF 2026 — a first in ten years, pandemic aside. The official explanation: illness. Analysts at the NEST Center and other observers see this as an illustration of a growing rift between economic technocrats, who want serious debates on the recession, and the military-ideological logic that now governs the forum. The central bank is maintaining its key rate at 14.5% to contain inflation, which is officially forecast to reach 5.2% — a figure that remains high after years of spiraling.

Meanwhile, the forum's sessions carefully avoided "any discussion on the depth and duration of the current recession," to the point that even the — usually docile — mainstream Russian press dared to criticize the "trivial discourse" in the face of collapsing investment, as noted by Nezavisimaya Gazeta. When pro-Kremlin journalists themselves are surprised, it means the varnish is cracking.

Technological Sovereignty: The Comfortable Big Lie

Putin’s Speech: A Hymn to Illusion

On June 5, Vladimir Putin spoke at the main plenary session. His speech lasted several hours — a performance of political endurance as much as economic. He declared that "countries or groups of countries that possess their own set of technologies in AI, autonomous systems, and digital platforms will become powerful centers of sovereignty in a multipolar world". He added that "without these technologies, true sovereignty will in principle be unattainable". Phrases that sound good in Kremlin transcripts. Less so when you look at industrial reality.

Russia has lost access to advanced semiconductors, lithography equipment, high-performance chips, and most Western professional software since the 2022 sanctions. The more than 31,500 individual sanction measures — making Russia the most sanctioned country in the world, ahead of Iran and North Korea — have sawed through technological supply chains. Dependence on China has become structural: Beijing now provides Moscow with automobiles, electronics, and industrial equipment in exchange for discounted oil, gas, and coal. This isn’t technological sovereignty. It’s a substitution of dependency.

Russian AI: The Mirage of a Structural Lag

Putin announced a national strategy for the development of artificial intelligence and asked the government to prepare similar strategies for autonomous systems and digital platforms. He spoke of Russia's performance in big data processing. What he didn't say: according to global patent filing data that he himself cited — China holds the largest number of AI patents. What he also failed to mention: the hundreds of thousands of developers, engineers, and tech researchers who have left Russia since 2022, taking with them the irreplaceable human capital that no "national program" can recreate in a few years.

To ensure that foreign delegates could access WhatsApp, Instagram, and other services blocked in Russia, organizers had to provide special SIM cards and VPN subscriptions. A state that censures its own internet and must install gateways for international guests claims to be leading the global digital revolution. The absurdity speaks for itself.

The Global South: Replacement Partners or Illusion of Power?

Uzbekistan, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia: The Podium of Shrinkage

The lineup of the main plenary session perfectly illustrated the transformation of the SPIEF. Alongside Putin: Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev — whose country has seen trade with Russia triple in a decade to reach $13 billion, and whose joint project portfolio exceeds $50 billion —; Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan — whose country shows 6% growth and ambitious renewable energy goals —; and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. The moderator herself was Indian, the foreign affairs editor for India Today. No Europeans, no Americans of government rank.

Saudi Arabia, the guest of honor, was represented by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, Minister of Energy, with over 200 delegates and a 400 m² national pavilion. This partnership celebrated the centenary of Russian-Saudi diplomatic relations. Behind the handshakes: a growing Russian dependence on OPEC+ cooperation to stabilize oil revenues, which now represent only 20% of the Russian budget — down from 50% pre-war. Even the "friends" of SPIEF are partners of interest, not conviction.

China: Strategic Partner or Discreet Tutor?

The presence of Han Zheng, Vice President of the world's second-largest power, gave a semblance of weight to the forum. Putin boasted of relations with Beijing that are "absolutely equal and mutually beneficial". The reality of trade data tells another story: after a 6.9% contraction in late 2025, bilateral trade rose back to $85.24 billion from January-April 2026, up 19.7%. But the structure of this exchange is asymmetrical — Russia exports oil, gas, and coal; China exports high-value-added manufactured goods. It is the classic structure of a relationship between a raw material supplier and an industrial power.

Chinese banks, under pressure from US secondary sanctions, have ramped up compliance checks, forcing companies to fall back on cryptocurrencies and small regional banks for their transactions with Russia. This is not the portrait of a solid alliance. It is one of a partnership constrained by interest, weakened by external pressure. China is playing its own tune — and that tune does not necessarily include Russia's long-term success.

The Western Absence: Silent Victory or Missed Opportunity?

Europe Gone, Business Continues — Discreetly

Officially, there was no state representation from the European Union at SPIEF 2026. Brussels bans official participation and frames the forum as a platform for sanctions evasion. But the reality on the ground is more nuanced and, in some ways, embarrassing: executives from European multinationals participated, registered under personal names, with badges omitting their company names, restricted to closed-door B2B sessions. About 1,800 German companies continue to operate in Russia, according to the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, with more than 100 billion euros in German assets at stake. AfD MEP Petr Bystron and other members of the German far-right were present.

The official US delegation, meanwhile, was led by Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts under Trump — a figure who claimed to be acting with the permission of Trump and the State Department. Alongside him at the forum: actor Steven Seagal, far-right commentator Candace Owens, and Andrew Tate, currently facing prosecution for human trafficking and rape in Romania. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Congress he was unaware of any official US delegation. This delegation was not a signal of re-engagement. It was a signal of the decay of the pro-Kremlin network in the West.

The Price of Real Isolation: An Increasingly Narrow Economy

The total value of signed agreements — 6,642 billion rubles, or approximately $89.57 billion — was presented as a record. But as SpecialEurasia points out, the nature of these agreements has changed decisively: they now essentially involve internal Russian capital and partners from Latin America, Africa, and the BRICS, rather than high-quality foreign direct investment. International venture capital funds, tech multinationals, global investment banks — the actors who create real long-term added value — are absent. What Putin calls a "record" is actually the sign of an economy running in a closed circuit, like a fish in a shrinking aquarium.

More than 31,500 individual sanction measures have been imposed on Russia — an absolute world record, far ahead of Iran and North Korea. Frozen Russian sovereign assets abroad reach approximately $300 billion. Putin counters that his reserves exceed $500 billion in dollar equivalents, and that these sanctions "hurt those who impose them more." Perhaps. But sanctions are not meant to ruin the imposer — they are meant to prevent the financing of a war of aggression. And on that front, they are partially working.

Putin’s Speech: Propaganda Statistics and Ukraine Evacuated

BRICS vs G7: Statistical Manipulation or Emerging Reality?

Putin devoted a large part of his speech to a carefully constructed statistical demonstration. BRICS countries contributed 49% of annual global GDP growth over the last five years, compared to 18% for the G7. The BRICS share of global GDP in purchasing power parity (PPP) now reaches approximately 40%, while the G7's has fallen below 29%. These figures are real — but their interpretation is manipulative. Purchasing power parity mechanically inflates the weight of low-wage economies. And 4% growth in a developing economy is structurally different from 1.5% growth in a mature economy. Putin is comparing apples and oranges — knowing full well what he is doing.

He also cited Russian unemployment at 2.2%, lower than the US (4.2%), Japanese (2.5%), or European (5.9%) figures. What he didn't say: this "full employment" is fueled by the war economy — production of shells, drones, missiles — by forced mobilization, and by the hemorrhage of skilled labor that has left the country. A war economy can show very low unemployment rates while being structurally unhealthy. Germany in 1942 also had a low unemployment rate.

Ukraine: The Great Absentee from Economic Debates

On the war, Putin was brief and brutal. He rejected Volodymyr Zelensky’s proposal for a direct meeting, stating he did "not yet see the point." He described the open letter published by Zelensky as containing a certain "insolence" that made any meeting "practically impossible." He claimed that Russian forces are advancing "daily along the entire contact line" and that less than 15% of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic remains under Ukrainian control. He reaffirmed "denazification," the recognition of separatist republics, and the "liberation" of the Donbas as objectives. No serious ceasefire proposal. No real diplomatic opening. An economic forum used to confirm the continuation of a war of aggression.

The contrast was striking: a forum supposed to attract investment turns into a war platform. The thematic sessions addressed AI, digitalization, transport corridors — but the war in Ukraine, which devours the budget, destroys the social fabric, and fuels inflation, was carefully kept outside the scope of economic discussions. Ideologues Alexander Dugin and Konstantin Malofeev — who mentioned the use of nuclear weapons as a "good scenario" on opening day — were on stage as keynote speakers. A forum that gives a podium to nuclear apologists is no longer an economic forum.

The Forum as a Tool for Normalizing the War

SPIEF, a Machine to Legitimize the Unlegitimizable

The NEST Center, in an analysis published on June 8, is direct: SPIEF "has ceased to function as a tool for attracting investment capital" and now serves to "consolidate a new ideological framework for the country, adapted to a prolonged military conflict and long-term confrontation with the West." The forum has become a loyalty ceremony. Russian economic elites go there not to do business with high-quality international partners, but to signal their allegiance to the Kremlin. Putin returns the favor by interpreting their presence as a vote of confidence.

It is a logic of institutional capture. Since 2022, the nationalization of private assets has spread across Russia. Various legal mechanisms have been used to justify expropriations — from challenges to 1990s privatizations to accusations of supporting Ukraine, or sometimes justified anti-corruption suits. Alexander Galitsky, founder of the venture capital fund Almaz Capital Partners and a pioneer of the Russian IT industry, saw his assets — valued at approximately 8 billion rubles — seized. Dmitry Kamenshchik, owner of Domodedovo Airport, and Konstantin Strukov, majority shareholder of the Yuzhuralzoloto mining group, lost control of their companies in 2025. Businessmen at SPIEF know perfectly well that refusing to attend would be interpreted as dissent.

Ideology as a Substitute for Economics

The NEST Center identifies two competing approaches within the Russian governing elite: a technocratic approach aimed at preserving market mechanisms, and a militarist-ideological approach that sees the economy solely as an instrument for political goals. In 2026, the latter clearly won out at SPIEF. The five strategic pillars of the program — "The World Economy: Between Confrontation and Cooperation", "The Russian Economy: Structural Transformations", "Technologies that Shape the Future", "The Social Sphere in the Age of New Technologies", "A Living Environment" — sound like empty governmental formulas with no anchor in the reality of a recessionary economy.

The forum brought together more than 9,200 representatives of Russian and foreign businesses from over 4,300 companies. The vast majority were Russian. The foreigners present mostly came from countries under influence or pressure from sanctions — economies that cannot afford to close the door on Moscow. This is not a sign of attractiveness. It is the portrait of an economy captive to its own geopolitical constraints.

De-dollarization: Mirage or Real Trend?

Putin Boasts of the Dollar’s Collapse — SWIFT Data Tells a Different Story

One of the central themes of Putin’s speech was global de-dollarization. He claimed that the freezing of Russian sovereign reserves — about $300 billion — has had an "irreversible effect" on the position of the dollar and the euro as reserve currencies. He stated that 65% of Russian export transactions are now denominated in rubles, and that BRICS countries are expanding the use of national currencies in their trade. The ruble's share in Russian trade is real — but it mostly reflects a lack of choice: Western partners no longer do business with Russia in dollars because they no longer do business with Russia, period.

SWIFT data at the end of 2025 shows that the US dollar still dominates more than half of international transactions. The euro, despite the predictions of multipolarity ideologues, remains the world's second reserve currency. Russia is forced to use the yuan — and it is accumulating non-convertible Indian rupees that can neither be repatriated nor invested outside India. This isn’t a monetary revolution. It’s a forced adaptation to sanctions, repackaged as leadership discourse.

India: A Valuable but Unbalanced Partner

Putin praised the special relationship with India, dating back to 1947. India buys about 1 million barrels per day of Russian oil, at a price of about $86.77 per barrel as of June 1, 2026 — generating some $86.7 million in daily revenue. This partnership limits inflation in India and provides currency to Moscow. But Russian revenues are accumulating in non-convertible rupees. Rosneft has invested about $25 billion in the Indian economy — refineries, ports, service station networks — without being able to freely repatriate these profits. India, a sovereign state par excellence, buys at a good price and sells at market price. It's hard to call that a Russian diplomatic victory.

Diplomatic Downgrade: When the Numbers Reveal the Truth

From 144 Countries in 2025 to 130 in 2026: The Trend is Telling

The organizers of SPIEF 2026 announced over 20,000 participants from more than 130 countries. In the end, the official report stated 24,500 participants from 142 countries — a slight decline from the 144 countries and 24,200 participants in 2025. This decline seems marginal. But it fits into a continuous trend since 2022: a decline in the countries represented, and a decline in the quality and rank of delegations. In 2019, before the pandemic and the wars, SPIEF welcomed presidents of major economies, Fortune 500 CEOs, and G20 central bankers. In 2026, the prestige list is limited to Uzbekistan, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, and a Chinese Vice President.

The physical absence of official representation from the entire European Union — 27 countries representing the world's third-largest economic power — is a colossal diplomatic fact that the Kremlin cannot erase with any rhetoric about "multipolarity." Putin stated during his speech that "a strong and sovereign country cannot be isolated." That might be true in theory. In practice, SPIEF 2026 looks terribly like an isolated country trying hard not to appear so.

Convenience Delegates: Seagal, Owens, Tate

To fill the Western vacuum, Russia recruited a gallery of foreigners that would make any serious protocol director blush. Notable "Western" participants included: Steven Seagal — the American actor turned Russian citizen and fervent Putin supporter —, Candace Owens — American far-right commentator —, and Andrew Tate — the British influencer currently under prosecution in Romania for human trafficking, rape, and organized crime. These presences were not accidental: they were part of a deliberate strategy to fill camera screens with non-Russian faces, creating the illusion of international engagement. An illusion, indeed — because these individuals have neither the mandate, the credibility, nor the resources to represent anything real.

The Ukrainian Strike on Kronstadt: Kyiv’s Geopolitical Message

Drones Over the Forum: An Irrefutable Symbol

During the night and morning of June 3, 2026, the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted a long-range drone operation against targets around Saint Petersburg. The Kronstadt naval base of the Russian Baltic Fleet was hit — a powerful symbol: Kronstadt houses warships, submarines, training centers, repair docks, and shipbuilding facilities. A fire was reported after the strike. Drones also temporarily disrupted the city's airport, about 16 kilometers from the forum site.

Delegates arriving at the Expoforum could see columns of smoke. According to Meduza, guests observed a "dense cloud of smoke" upon arrival. International reaction was swift. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, at a press conference in Kyiv with Zelensky, drew a clear parallel between SPIEF and the May 9th parade — two stagings of Russian normalcy that Ukraine can defy. "Ukraine is now so skilled that Putin can only organize a May 9th parade with an official presidential decree," Rutte said.

Zelensky Confronts a Propaganda Forum

Zelensky chose the path of diplomatic transparency. On the very day SPIEF opened, he published an open letter to Putin proposing direct talks in a third country. Putin rejected it, calling it "insolent" and stating he saw "no interest" in a meeting. Even more revealing: during a Q&A session with international media representatives on June 4, Putin had appeared slightly more open to a meeting "if a concrete agreement were to be signed" — before hardening his position the next day. This diplomatic yo-yo reveals a man who doesn’t want to negotiate but also doesn’t want to appear as the one refusing to do so.

The Russian War Economy: Resistance or Zombification?

Growth Boosted by Military Spending, Fragile Underneath

Russian economic growth in recent years has been massively fueled by military spending. The PRIO notes explicitly: recent growth has been "massively driven by military spending and defense production." Structural vulnerabilities persist: inflationary pressures, labor shortages, technological restrictions, and dependence on war fiscal stimuli. Putin himself admitted that GDP growth — 4.9% in 2024 — "has moderated," and that the government's task is to "return the economy to a sustainable growth trajectory starting next year." In other words: the war bubble is starting to deflate.

Russian public debt is presented as an asset: 16.4% of GDP, compared to 81.7% for the Eurozone. Putin cited figures for Greece (146%), Italy (137%), and France (115%). This is true — but incomplete. Low public debt in a closed economy under sanctions, with limited capital markets and a non-convertible currency, does not have the same meaning as low debt in an open economy with access to global financial markets. Russia has low debt because it can no longer borrow freely. It’s not a budgetary virtue. It’s an external constraint dressed up as fiscal discipline.

Labor Shortages: The Invisible Human Cost of SPIEF

The 2.2% unemployment rate hides a tragic reality that the NEST Center and PRIO both document. Labor shortages were caused by losses of approximately half a million killed soldiers, by the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Russians — including a large proportion of young qualified professionals, especially in tech sectors — and by the mass mobilization of 2022. Regional budgets have been strained by compensation payments to families of military victims, which the regions fund themselves. These human and fiscal costs do not appear on any SPIEF PowerPoint slide — but they are real, and they are worsening.

The Signed Agreements: Facade Volume or Economic Reality?

6,642 Billion Rubles: The Devil is in the Details

The official tally for SPIEF 2026, announced by Anton Kobyakov, executive secretary of the organizing committee: 1,084 agreements worth 6,642 billion rubles, or approximately $89.57 billion. This is slightly higher than the two previous forums — 6.49 trillion in 2024, 6.48 trillion in 2025. Russian organizers see this as proof of dynamism. But SpecialEurasia emphasizes that "the nature of the agreements has shifted decisively toward internal Russian capital and partners from the BRICS, Latin America, and Africa." The majority of these agreements are contracts between Russian regions — 83 regions signed 831 agreements alone in 2025 — and Russian state-owned enterprises. This is the recirculation of Russian money within the Russian economy, dressed up as international investment.

The comparison with SPIEF before 2022 is revealing. Back then, the forums generated real foreign direct investment: BP, Total, Siemens, BASF, and Deutsche Bank signed concrete industrial projects with Russian partners. These flows brought technology, know-how, and fresh capital. In 2026, these actors are absent — and the signed agreements reflect an economy turning inward, unable to attract the high-quality international capital it structurally needs to modernize.

Russia as an Economy-Sandwich Between Iran and North Korea

The fact that Russia is now the most sanctioned country in the world, ahead of Iran and North Korea, is not trivial. These two states are models for what happens to an economy under durable and total sanctions: increasing technological isolation, dependence on black markets and shady intermediaries, endemic corruption, zombification of private sectors, and the consolidation of power around a political-military elite. Russia is not yet at that stage — but the trajectory exists, and SPIEF 2026 is its faithful mirror.

Multipolar Propaganda: Fallen West or Recomposed West?

Putin Against the "Alternative Facts" of His Own Speech

Putin hammered home that "the West is gradually losing its influence on the global landscape" and that "BRICS is growing from strength to strength each year." He cited real statistics to support a narrative that is biased. Yes, BRICS is growing in its share of global GDP in PPP. Yes, the Global South is rising. But this rise does not translate into a collapse of the West — it translates into a recomposition of the world. The European Union remains the largest trade zone in the world. The United States remains the leading military and technological power. The dollar still dominates SWIFT transactions. Most AI patents are filed in the US or Europe.

The West that Putin describes — declining, indebted, arrogant, losing — is a caricature that serves his internal narrative. It does not correspond to the reality of an EU that has increased its military spending historically, a NATO that has expanded to include Finland and Sweden, and a democratic alliance that continues to send weapons, intelligence, and funding to Ukraine. The West is not dead. It is reorganizing in the face of a threat it had long refused to see clearly.

China as a Systemic Threat: The Silence of SPIEF

What SPIEF 2026 did not say — and what serious analysts point out — is perhaps more important than what it did say. Russia's growing dependence on China is a structural transformation with considerable geopolitical consequences. China provides Russia with the technology, consumer goods, and industrial equipment it needs. In exchange, it gets discounted hydrocarbons, access to strategic natural resources, and a Russia that is increasingly a vassal in the Sino-Russian relationship. This dynamic does not serve the interests of the West — but it also does not serve the long-term interests of Russia. China is a power that maximizes its own interests, not a reliable ideological ally.

Conclusion: When a Forum Becomes an Epitaph

SPIEF 2026, Mirror of a Shrinking Russia

The 29th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum ended on June 6, 2026, with official fanfares, record announced contracts, and a Vladimir Putin who seemed satisfied with himself. But behind the polished staging: an absent central bank governor, fixed investments in a 14.3% freefall, a recession that participants dared not name, renowned Western delegates replaced by far-right commentators and an actor-turned-Russian-citizen, and Ukrainian drones visible on the horizon from the forum site itself. SPIEF 2026 was not the showcase of an expanding power. It was the mirror of a shrinking Russia — geographically in its alliances, economically in its partnerships, and diplomatically in its real influence.

The transformation of the "Russian Davos" is complete. What was, until 2021, an authentic business forum where global economic powers negotiated real deals has become an ideological ceremony where the faithful signal their loyalty, where nationalist ideologues apologize for nuclear war, and where the Russian president uses the event to confirm the continuation of an illegal war of aggression. The NEST Center writes without ambiguity: the forum "has ceased to function as a tool for attracting investment". It now serves to "consolidate an ideological framework adapted to a prolonged military conflict."

What the Russia of 2026 Reveals to the West

SPIEF 2026 sends the West a message that democracies would do well not to underestimate. Russia is not collapsing. It is adapting, shrinking, and restructuring around a war economy, an ideology of resistance, and a network of non-Western partners with China as the pivot. This adaptation is costly, uncomfortable, and fragile — but it is real. Sanctions are partially working, not totally. Isolation is relative, not absolute. This means the West's military and economic commitment to Ukraine must be maintained — not out of ideology, but out of cold strategic calculation. A negotiated settlement that would consecrate Russian conquests would be the worst reward for aggression.

The West remains the center of the global economy, technological innovation, and democratic values. This is not an hereditary title — it is an active responsibility. SPIEF 2026, in its documented shrinkage, is proof by default: when democracies withdraw, the void is filled by autocrats who interpret it as a triumph. Ukraine fights every day so that this void does not become permanent. The minimum the West can do is not leave them alone in this fight.

Signed Maxime Marquette, columnist

Sources

Primary Sources

Kremlin.ru — Plenary Session of the 29th Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Vladimir Putin's Speech — June 5, 2026

ForumSPb.com — Official site of the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), presentation and archives — 2026

Ukrainska Pravda — NATO Secretary General indicates NATO sees no problem with Ukrainian strikes on Saint Petersburg during Putin’s forum — June 3, 2026

Secondary Sources

NEST Center — Ideology instead of economics: how the war has changed SPIEF — June 8, 2026

UGSPN — SPIEF 2026: Putin’s forum, Russia’s reality — June 15, 2026

PRIO (Peace Research Institute Oslo) — SPIEF 2026 highlighted Russia's growing economic problems — June 9, 2026

SpecialEurasia — SPIEF 2026 and Russia’s foreign strategy — June 4, 2026

PBS NewsHour / Associated Press — Putin dismisses Western sanctions and Zelensky’s proposal to meet — June 5, 2026