The Petersburg meeting, launched in 1997 and became “international” in 2007, formerly frequented by Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy or Emmanuel Macron, has changed its face since the invasion of Ukraine, recalls the independent regional media Govorit NeMoskva. This year, Russia is welcoming a North Korean economic delegation, Taliban representatives, people close to Vladimir Putin, in particular his daughters who are participating for the third consecutive year, but also Western figures with more than controversial reputations.
We thus meet the ultra-conservative American podcaster Candace Owens, known for her conspiratorial, anti-Semitic and transphobic comments, the Briton Andrew Tate, accused of human trafficking and sexual crimes, the former Moldovan president Igor Dodon, as well as the ex-chancellor Gerhard Schröder, whose name resurfaced this year as a potential mediator in the Ukraine war, list Radio Freedom. For journalist Renat Davletgildeev, interviewed by the Russian-speaking media, this list of guests reflects the “moral, social and political orientations†of present-day Russia.
As for the American delegation, presented as “official†, it is led by Rodney Mims Cook Jr., president of the Commission of Beau
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