moscow —
The guest list for Russia’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a former gathering place for Western leaders and investors, includes American attendees ranging from conservative podcaster Candace Owens to American Council on the Arts Chairman Rodney Mims Cook Jr. to American actor Steven Seagal.
No Ukrainians were in attendance, but they made their presence known as the Kremlin’s flagship business and economic forum opened under a cloud of drone attacks on St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city and President Vladimir Putin’s hometown, hours before the event began on Wednesday.
Dubbed Putin’s answer to Davos, the forum has seen a gradual decline in Western participation over the years following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Saudi Arabia is the guest of honor at this year’s forum, with the Saudi energy minister scheduled to attend a plenary session with President Putin on Friday. In a clear sign that Russia is moving towards business ties with the East, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng is also attending with a large delegation.
Cook, who was appointed to the government committee by President Donald Trump, is the first U.S. government official to attend the forum since 2017. The Kremlin has long touted his presence, describing him as the leader of SPIEF’s first official U.S. delegation.
Cook told Russian state media on Wednesday that he had received permission from President Trump and the State Department to visit Russia. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday that he was “not aware” that an official delegation was present despite the Russian proposal.
Nevertheless, Cook was a guest panelist on Thursday’s “Russia-American Cultural Dialogue,” along with American actor Steven Seagal and Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova. Mr. Cook began his opening remarks by showing the audience and other panelists his “dacha” (Russian-style cabin or country cottage) in Atlanta.
“I was once again very warmly welcomed in St. Petersburg. Many of the people in this room have been personal friends for decades. I’m here to listen and learn,” Cook said.
“I want to show you how I live. This is the dacha where I live in Atlanta. It’s made of Russian wooden words that have touched my heart for decades, and I think it’s extraordinary,” he added, showing a photo of his home in a presentation slide.
Mr. Cook’s committee is tasked with approving the reconstruction of the White House ballroom wing and President Trump’s Arc de Triomphe, a 250-foot monument in the style of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe that the president plans to build in Washington, D.C. He also showed some images of the design plans for these projects.
Cook, who helped restore Russia’s Arkhangelskoe Palace and the New Jerusalem Monastery, spoke of his love for Russian architect Anton Grikin, calling him his “surrogate son.” Gilkin, who was also on the panel, is someone Cook has mentored and collaborated with on various projects.
“We have a similar spirit. I consider him my son, but he is my Russian brother,” Cook said.
Gilkin designed the World Athletes Monument, erected in Atlanta in 1996, after winning a competition for the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture, of which Cook was a founding director.
The architect told panelists that he is overseeing the design of a settlement in the city of Nizhny Novgorod for 450 Western immigrants to Russia who will move on “shared values visas.” The visa was introduced by President Vladimir Putin’s August 2024 decree for immigrants who believe in Russia’s traditional anti-woke values.
Earlier, Gilkin told Russian state media that he played several Russian folk songs on the piano to Cook and his daughters during a visit to St. Petersburg.
“Rodney has always been a Russophile, he loves the Orthodox Church and basic classical culture. He is also an Anglophile, but you can say that Russian culture is still number one in his class,” Gilkin told Russian state media TASS.
Although Russia’s war in Ukraine did not come up during the panel discussion, Robert Agee, president and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said the level of “misunderstanding” and “mistrust” between the two countries was at an all-time high.
Agee spoke of “huge opportunities” on the business front, saying that for the past four years he has been discussing projects worth trillions of dollars with Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund. However, he said these projects could not be realized until the two countries “improved relations” and never mentioned that Russia’s aggression in the neighboring country was an obstacle to these business ties.
The Age has announced that Russian and American ice hockey players will compete in Moscow on July 1 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of American independence. President Putin, a longtime ice hockey fan, suggested a match between Russian and American players during a phone conversation with President Trump in March 2025.
Also on the panel was Seagal, a regular Russian player who was given a Russian passport by President Putin himself in 2016. The Hollywood actor said that it is his “dream” to establish relations between Russia and America.
This year’s unlikely and surprising guest was conservative American podcaster Owens, who took part in another panel promoting family values. Visiting the country for the first time, she spent a few days in Moscow with her husband and children before heading to St. Petersburg, where she posted photos of her tourist activities.
Owens has become a particularly controversial figure after promoting conspiracy theories about the death of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the gender of French first lady Brigitte Macron, who filed a defamation lawsuit against the podcaster.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Owens questioned U.S. aid to Ukraine, telling reporters, “Americans are tired of raising money and don’t know where that money is going.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state media that there were no plans for a meeting between Putin and any American attending.
Self-proclaimed misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan also posted that they were in Russia this week. Andrew Tate posted a video of the couple undergoing a welcoming ceremony at a Moscow airport that included Russian dancing and traditional offerings of bread and salt. It is not yet clear whether the two men will attend the economic forum.
CNN’s Katharina Krebs contributed reporting.
