Where once there were Macron and Merkel, today there are the presidents of Bolivia and Zimbabwe, but above all the relatives of the oligarchs in power
In Putin’s hometown, huge screens, illustrious guests and full halls. But this time not of Western businessmen and leaders, but of Chinese, Taliban (now removed from Moscow’s black list of extremists) and above all “sons of”. It is the 27th Spief, St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, what once […]
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In Putin’s hometown, huge screens, illustrious guests and full halls. But this time not of Western businessmen and executives, but of Chinese, Taliban (now removed from the black list of Moscow extremists) and above all “son of”. It is the 27th Spief, International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, what they once called the “Russian Davos”, and is today the stage for the scions of the Kremlin elite.
Before the war against Kiev, in the corridors of the Spief, there were Guterres, Macron and Merkel, Xi or Modi. This year, among the delegations of 136 invited states, only the presidents of Bolivia And Zimbabwe, representatives of the Hungarian government. The “multipolar” turn, especially Asian and African, which the Federation was forced to undertake due to the absence of its former partners, Western entrepreneurs, already emerges from the names chosen for conferences and meetings organised: “Evil Empire: Has the West Successfully Demonized Russia?” or “Requiem for Europe: a new era of international cooperation”; the interventions concern “philosophy and geopolitics of a multipolar world”, “family values and traditions”.
At Spief, however, political scientists observe and analyze what they are increasingly starting to call “the rise of the princes”: in 2024 the Forum becomes the Petersburg stage of the “sons of”. And “daughters of”: those of number one, Putin, will both be there. Both the 39-year-old endocrinologist Maria Vorontsovawho will speak on the bioeconomy with the Minister of Agriculture Oksana Luth, is the youngest Katerina Tikhonova, head of Innopraktita, who will talk about military development and “technological sovereignty”. There is also another relative of the president (at least according to the results of the British government’s research): Anna Tsivileva, wife of Sergey Tsivilev, head of the energy ministry. You manage a fund for soldiers who fought in Ukraine.
It won’t be missed Alexander, the son of the chief of staff Anton Vaino, or Roman, the son of Boris Rotenberg, the oligarch who as a child served as a sparring partner in the future president’s judo lessons. Rotenberg the younger is vice president of the Russian Hockey Federation and will moderate a panel on the sport, just as he will Ksenia33-year-old daughter of former Defense Minister Shoigu.
