{"id":280514,"date":"2026-05-22T07:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280514\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T07:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T07:27:10","slug":"us-official-to-attend-st-petersburg-economic-forum-for-first-time-in-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/280514\/","title":{"rendered":"US Official to Attend St. Petersburg Economic Forum for First Time in Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

A representative of the US presidential administration will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) this year, marking the first such visit in several years, Russian media reported.<\/p>\n

Rodney Mims Cook, head of the US federal Commission of Fine Arts, said he has been invited to attend the plenary session and President Vladimir Putin\u2019s address at the June forum.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe organizing committee of the forum and the US State Department confirmed that I am invited, and I will be present,\u201d Cook told Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cook, who was appointed head of the Commission of Fine Arts in January 2026, is also the founder of the US National Monument Foundation and a specialist affiliated with the World Monuments Fund.<\/p>\n

He has previously taken part in cultural restoration projects in Russia and has delivered lectures at several high-profile Russian institutions, including the Kremlin Armory and the Arkhangelskoye estate.<\/p>\n

The planned participation comes as Russian officials and business lobbyists signal a cautious return of American corporate interest in SPIEF, though still below pre-war levels.<\/p>\n

Robert Agee, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said<\/a> more US companies are expected to attend this year compared to recent editions, but numbers remain significantly lower than before Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

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\"US<\/p>\n

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Other Topics of Interest<\/p>\n

US Intelligence Says Ukraine Regained Territory After Cutting Off Russia\u2019s Illegal Starlink Use<\/a><\/p>\n

US intelligence assessed that Ukraine recaptured around 400 square kilometers of territory after Ukrainian officials disabled thousands of Starlink terminals used illegally by Russian forces. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine\u2019s Minister of Digital Transformation, said the Starlink shutdown, together with middle-strike drones, helped shift battlefield momentum in Ukraine\u2019s favor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have a commercial dialogue between Russia and America,\u201d Agee said, adding that American businesses are still approaching Russia \u201cwith caution.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted efforts to \u201crebuild cultural ties\u201d between the two countries through business and dialogue.<\/p>\n

Washington did not send an official representative<\/a> to last year\u2019s forum, citing Russia\u2019s \u201cmore aggressive\u201d stance on the war in Ukraine. US officials at the time warned that any return to \u201cnormal relations\u201d with Moscow would carry significant \u201ceconomic and reputational risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

SPIEF, held annually in St. Petersburg since 1997 and organized by the Kremlin-linked Roscongress Foundation, is one of Russia\u2019s flagship economic events and will run this year from June 3 to 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A representative of the US presidential administration will attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) this year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-280514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}