St. Petersburg became the center of the free world for four days

June 14-17, Russia’s second capital was the site of a major international economic forum. The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), which dates back to 1997, over the past two decades has become a major discussion platform and a venue for the conclusion of major contracts between Russians and those countries and companies that Moscow considers its allies and partners.

Since Vladimir Putin came to power, who has made enormous efforts to revive the Russian economy and return his country to superpower status, after a decade of post-Soviet crisis, SPIEF has significantly outgrown the format of an exhibition of Russian industrial, technological and scientific achievements. It was in St. Petersburg where the Russian government, major businessmen and corporations announced multi-billion dollar ambitious projects and attracted many foreign partners for their implementation. Moreover, it was at the St. Petersburg Forum that the Kremlin’s key ideas on the most important geopolitical, economic, energy and even worldview issues were voiced.

By tradition, each year SPIEF takes place under a certain motto, reflecting not only the leitmotif of its key events, but also the views of the Russian political leadership on the international environment, global trends and Russia’s role in these processes. It is worth noting that most of the Forum’s main themes were surprisingly sensitive in anticipating global transformations in the political and economic landscape and even the upcoming events associated with them. Thus, in the quiet and peaceful year of 2000, just a year before the events of September 11, 2001 and the beginning of the global fight against international terrorism, SPIEF was held under the theme “Strategy for the XXI Century: Solidarity for Creation and Safe Development”, and in 2016, even before the crisis in the global economy and the collapse of the existing global system, the forum theme was formulated as “On the Threshold of a New Economic Reality”.

The current processes in world politics and economics in 2023 are also very accurately spotted by the Russian leadership. The crisis of the global political and economic reality, which for many years was based on Western hegemony and the financial system controlled by Washington, London and Europe, and the resulting formation of new alliances and blocs such as BRICS and the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) are reflected in the strategic motif of SPIEF 2023: “Sovereign development – the basis of a fair world, let us unite for the sake of future generations”. Given the role that Moscow is playing in forging new alliances independent of the West and the confrontation that the US and its allies have forced Russia into, the motto of this forum is perceived not only as a political agenda for the Kremlin but also as a unifying idea for dozens of countries around the world seeking to preserve their sovereignty and identity in an alliance with Russia, China and other powers independent of the West.

The fact that, despite the obstruction by the US and members of the elitist Western bloc, representative delegations of politicians and businessmen from 130 countries have arrived in St Petersburg these days shows that the ideas and values Russia offers to the world resonate with the majority of the world’s population, tired of being dominated by the “golden billion”, serving their interests and the consequences of their mistakes.