SPIEF 2026 Remembered For Party Crasher. Russia Inc. Versus Russia Gov. “War” Word Unwelcomed. Culture Will Not Replace Accountability. Not The Text Messages Host Wanted For Participants.
SPIEF 2026 Remembered For The Ultimate Party Crasher
Not The Message A Host Wants To Deliver: “Внимание! Угроза БПЛА на территории Санкт-Петербурга, возможны перебои в работе мобильного интернета. Телефон экстренных служб 112.”
Russia, Inc. Versus Russia, Gov.
Culture, Investment Opportunities, Tunnel, US$14 Trillion, Are Not The Remedy
U.S. Companies Must Accept The Prescription: It’s A War. Not A Conflict, Distraction, Issue, Or Problem. Trying Not To Use The Word “War” Demonstrates Political Tone-Deafness Rather Than Astute Messaging
Often, it is useful to permit the incoming to settle prior to organizing the number and throw-weight into an analysis. There is value in permitting time.
The first day of the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) from 3 June 2026 to 6 June 2026 began not with a conversation, dialogue, discussion, panel, remarks, or a speech.
The government of Ukraine was determined to be a message disrupter and party-crasher. It executed and succeeded brilliantly.
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine (2019-2024; term extended due to imposition of martial law in 2022), could take satisfaction in knowing participants at SPIEF would be talking about or thinking about the drone impact in St. Petersburg.
The smoke trail- near black and long and lingering, was visible all morning and most of the day to residents and guests in the city, to passengers arriving and departing Pulkovo Airport, and particularly to those in vehicles arriving at ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre to participate in SPIEF.
For Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation (2000-2008 and 2012-2030), his reaction was a combination of anger and embarrassment. The question asked quietly by participants at SPIEF was how a country with nuclear weapons and space program is unable to detect and detour a drone.
One message from the Russian Federation-Ukraine War (2014-2022 and 2022- ) and the Israel-United States-Iran War (2026- ) is strong countries are becoming more demanding and less tolerant of the weak, but weak countries seem stronger and strong countries seem weaker.
The immediate area surrounding the ExpoForum Convention and Exhibition Centre resembled a military base. Anti-aircraft guns mounted on pick-up trucks, service-to-air missiles, interceptor drone launchers- think mini versions of Germany’s V-2 rockets, with racks of interceptor drones ready to launch, at least one air balloon, and portable radar installations and radio frequency jamming stations.
Spokespersons for the government of the Russian Federation lament that the Trump-Vance Administration (2025-2029) is too occupied by how to end the Israel-United States-Iran War and unable to simultaneously give deserved attention to how to end the Russian Federation-Ukraine War. The government of Ukraine shares the same perspective.
Donald Trump, President of the United States (2017-2021 and 2025-2029), no longer considers the Russian Federation-Ukraine War to be a drain on the finances of the United States taxpayer. It is a regional European conflict. Sumy, Ukraine, the nearest city to the border with the Russian Federation, is 4,960 miles from Washington DC.
Both President Putin and President Zelensky may have miscalculated if they wanted President Trump to remain engaged with the Russian Federation-Ukraine War. He may well have moved onward from it and his interest in resolving it.
The government of Ukraine is now a purchaser, directly or indirectly, of military equipment. The twenty-seven-country member Brussels, Belgium-based European Union (EU) are funding the government of Ukraine and funding military equipment purchases for the government of Ukraine. The thirty-two-country member Brussels, Belgium-based North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are funding military equipment purchases for the government of Ukraine.
EU: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
NATO: United States, United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Albania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Romania, Germany, Slovakia, Greece, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain, Turkiye, Latvia, and North Macedonia, Sweden.
· Twenty-three (23) members of NATO are also members of the EU: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden
Moscow, Kyiv, and Brussels will endure further disappointment. Once President Trump announces the implementation (as he defines it) of an agreement (as he defines it) that concludes (as he defines it) the Israel-United States-Iran War, the focus of the United States government will pivot to the Caribbean Sea. To the Republic of Cuba.
Beginning at 2:47 am on Wednesday, 3 June 2026, everyone with a Russian Federation cellular device received the following text messages:
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
4:02 am
Внимание! В 02.47 объявлена: «Беспилотная опасность» в воздушном пространстве Ленинградской области. Телефон экстренных служб 112.
Attention! At 2:47 a.m., a drone alert was issued in the airspace of the Leningrad Region. Emergency services are available at 112.
5:48 am
Внимание! Угроза БПЛА на территории Санкт-Петербурга, возможны перебои в работе мобильного интернета. Телефон экстренных служб 112.
Attention! UAV threat in St. Petersburg; mobile internet disruptions are possible. Emergency services number: 112.
9:28 am
Отмена угрозы БПЛА на территории Санкт-Петербурга.
UAV threat alert lifted in St. Petersburg.
Внимание! В 08.18 отбой «Беспилотной опасности» в воздушном пространстве Ленинградской области. Телефон экстренных служб 112.
Attention! At 08:18, the "UAV threat" alert in the airspace of the Leningrad Region was lifted. Emergency services number: 112.
The first gathering at SPEIF on 3 June 2026 was the “Pharmaceutical Breakfast of the Drug Security Forum” at the Hilton St. Petersburg ExpoForum. The official description began with “A country’s drug security is based upon the success of its efforts…” Among Speakers is a representative of New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson (2025 revenue approximately US$94 billion).
McLean, Virginia-based Hilton Worldwide Holdings (2025 revenue approximately US$12 billion) continues to manage twenty-four (24) properties in the Russian Federation and five (5) properties in Belarus.
In the aftermath of the 24 February 2022 expansion of the Russian Federation-Ukraine War, most United States-based hotel brands ceased operations in the Russian Federation and in Belarus.
Properties removed signage for brands owned by Chicago, Illinois-based Hyatt Hotels Corporation (2025 revenue approximately US$7 billion) and Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott International (2025 revenue approximately US$26 billion).
Hilton Worldwide Holdings has since 2022 managed Waldorf Astoria Washington DC in the Old Post Office leased from the United States government. From 2016 to 2022, the property was leased to and managed by the New York, New York-based The Trump Organization and branded as Trump International Hotel.
On 4 June 2026, the “Russia-US: A Cultural Dialogue” included speakers who at times projected a tone-deafness to political realities. The idea that architecture, ballet, and ice hockey can be deployed to dampen, more accurately, extinguish the focus on the Russian Federation-Ukraine War is delusional. That members of the United States Congress will be distracted by cultural displays from more than 15,000 civilians (men, women, children) dead thus far in Ukraine.
Unlikely cultural events become a shiny object deflecting from decisions of the government of the Russian Federation considered to be detrimental to the interests of the government of the United States. For the lone professional actor among the speakers, there was an expectation for far more crisp, rehearsed, and professional delivery. As an actor would deliver a monologue. Important to note that the presence of the chairman of the United States Commission on Fine Arts (CFA) does not create an official delegation to SPIEF, particularly when the United States Secretary of State shared he was unaware of any official delegation to SPIEF. The remarks by the chairman were devoid of balance, nearing the edge of sycophantical.
Friday, 5 June 2026, began as scheduled with an 8:00 am to 9:30 am breakfast hosted by Herman Gref, Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of Moscow, Russian Federation-based Sberbank. The program was “Development Strategies: Are There Any Alternatives?”
“Changes in the global geo-economic environment require the Russian economy to be dynamic and flexible. In a technological race, accelerating investments plays a decisive role. Government and businesses need to find a balance between growth speed and sustainability, new development areas and capital sources. At the breakfast, Russian Government officials, Bank of Russia leaders, top CEOs, and lawmakers will discuss economic challenges and share their vision for sustainable growth.”
The individuals in the room for this breakfast included members of President Putin’s inner circle, so the messages delivered in the room were not divergent from what would be expected to be presented to President Putin. During their remarks, the participants suggested no discord in the belief that there are increasingly concerning institutional and substantial issues with the commercial, economic, and financial infrastructure in the Russian Federation.
The message from the participants was the Russian Federation-Ukraine War from its inception in 2014 and accelerating since 2022, has caused macro-economic damage and micro-economic damage to consumers, the private sector, and the public sector. Commitment to sovereignty will not mitigate or negate the increasing impact of bilateral sanctions and multilateral sanctions. Sovereignty has benefits. Sovereignty has costs.
The question for the Kremlin is balancing seeking sovereignty with the co-existent costs upon the approximately 144 million citizens and their deserved and desired quality of life. Is sovereignty what the voters want or what the government requires voters to want?
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation increasingly has a decreasing tool set available to stabilize (maintain) an economy that has high interest rates, increasing unemployment and under employment, high fees and high taxes, challenges with access to capital and direct foreign investment, and a currency, the Ruble, whose changes in value impact the economy further.
Among leadership of Russia, Inc., there is not delusion or illusion that the relationship of the Russian Federation with the United States is one of equals. Mr. Kirill Dmitriev, Special Envoy and Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), knows this to be true. He is a numbers guy- and the numbers tell the story.
President Trump does not believe President Putin is his equal nor does President Trump believe the Russian Federation is the equal of the United States. Potential partner? But a junior partner.
In 2025, the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the United States was approximately twelve times that of the nominal GDP of the Russian Federation. US$32.38 trillion compared to US$2.66 trillion. The Russian Federation is not a G7 country. It is a G9 country.
When President Putin delivered remarks at the SPIEF Plenary Session six hours after the breakfast, he channeled answers, goals, objectives, and realities which did not reflect the country discussed at the breakfast by those who are responsible for managing Russia, Inc.
Does President Putin have the available data? Does he choose not to believe it? By ignoring it, is his message to those managing Russia, Inc., a directive they create the commercial, economic, and financial landscape that he wants and believes he needs? A message of give me the economy I want, or I will find who will give me the economy I want. Does President Putin know what those at the breakfast believe to be true or is operating with “alternative facts” as an advisor to the Trump-Pence Administration (2017-2021) opined in 2017 about President Trump during an interview.
There was an expectation that President Putin would deliver remarks reflecting a head of state who wants to find a way to end an increasingly costly and profoundly disruptive war. At least present a façade. That is not what he did.
Which leads to a question about who he was speaking to on Friday afternoon? The participants at SPIEF? Citizens of the Russian Federation? Governments? President Trump?
President Trump recently had a conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel (2022- , 2009-2021, 1996-1999). Replace Netanyahu with Putin and not too far-fetched to conceive of a similar sentence structure by President Trump to President Putin.
“You're fucking crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel (Russia) because of this.” [Decisions by Prime Minister Netanyahu are framed as defending the “Jewish State” which has contributed to not only “hatred” of Israel, but “hatred” toward Jews.]
According to an interview with the Financial Times, President Trump shared that Prime Minister Netanyahu “won’t have any choice” but to accept any Washington DC-brokered deal because he (President Trump) “calls all the shots.” Will President Putin and President Zelensky not have any choice but to accept what President Trump presents in terms of ending the Russian Federation-Ukraine War? Is President Trump “calling the shots” or has he transferred the responsibility to the “coalition of the willing” which include members of the EU and NATO? Might the interests of Ukraine be better served absent the involvement of President Trump? Making Ukraine an issue for the European Continent to resolve- or not resolve.
President Putin and President Zelensky need be careful in their stroking of President Trump. He is like a cat. A cat becomes bord easily. They can be playful, until they are not. They can be playful, engaged, until they believe the exercise is pointless and the human behaves like an idiot. The cat walks way. Leaving the human alone. Satisfied having made a point.
President Trump has often repeated the Russian Federation-Ukraine War is not his war. He did not start it- that was the Obama-Biden Administration (2009-2017) and Biden-Harris Administration (2021-2025) so there is no obligation for him to stop it. It would be nice to stop it, but he will not easily redirect attention from renovations to The White House and other enhancement projects.
The armed forces of the Russian Federation and the armed forces of Ukraine each murder civilians. President Putin and President Zelensky condemn it for the same reasons- crimes against humanity, violation of international law, and terrorism. They also justify it for the same reasons- if there was no war, there would be no drones, rockets, and missiles, so there would be no civilian deaths.
The government of the Russian Federation maintains President Zelensky is controlled by and a stooge of the EU and NATO and the Collective West. The government of Ukraine maintains President Putin is controlled by and a stooge of corruption and oligarchs. This should not be a newsflash: Every politician is a tool of others. That is how they get to be appointed or bet to be elected. What differentiates politicians is what type of tool they resemble and how they use the functions of that tool to do their work.
President Putin will only find fleeting benefit from initiating the design for a tunnel connecting the Russian Federation with the State of Alaska, which the United States purchased from the Russian Empire in 1867. Even proposing the tunnel be named The Donald J. Trump Family & Friends International Tunnel of Peace, Love and Happiness will not guarantee President Trump’s sustained attention.
Mr. Kirill Dmitriev believes dissipation of mythology about US$14 trillion in commercial, economic, and financial opportunities in the Russian Federation for United States companies will supplant any quid pro quo requirement to end the military component of the Russian Federation-Ukraine War as a condition for bilateral sanctions relief.
Look no further than President Trump’s comments about the Israel-United States-Iran War. He said prices for United States consumers have increased, may increase further, and may sustain some increases. But, the goal of a nuclear weapon-free Iran is worth that sacrifice- whether it be permanent or temporary.
Since 2014 and then accelerating since 2022, United Staes consumers- and those throughout the world have adjusted- and continue to adjust to the impact of the Russian Federation-Ukraine War and resulting sanctions pressuring prices. New supply chains have been created and discovered. The global marketplace has adapted. Not necessarily willingly, but it has adapted.
Where in 2014 and 2022 there existed sources for minerals, natural gas, and oil, in 2026 there are new sources for those same products. The prices may be higher, but there is availability. Those with leverage in 2014 and 2022 do not necessarily have the same leverage in 2026. And some absent leverage in 2014 and 2022 now have leverage.
Given the political infrastructure in the Russian Federation, no Artificial Intelligence (AI) company or data center company will construct, locate, and operate a facility within the territory of the Russian Federation despite any energy cost savings. The risk to the data processed and stored at the facility would be profound and governments would prohibit companies from doing so.
Unhelpful to President Putin and President Trump are rumors Steven Witkoff, Assistant to the President, Senior Advisor, and Special Envoy (2025- ) of the Trump-Vance Administration, and Jared Kushner, a son-in-law of President Trump, have commercial offers from Kremlin-connected interests that would enrich themselves, their families, and their friends. As with their dealings in the Middle East (State of Israel, Occupied Territory of Gaza, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates among others), the two gentlemen, who are Jewish, seem to be on both sides of every negotiation, but with more focus upon their side. From an intelligence perspective, such dealings, if true, create conflict of interest issues for their employer, nominally the taxpayers of the United States.
There will remain unilateral interests of the Kremlin and The White House which despite best efforts will remain unsolvable. It is not about commerce; it is about systems.
In 1986, Richard Nixon, President of the United States (1969-1974), wrote in a letter to this writer “while the governments of the United States and Soviet Union [U.S.S.R.] will never be friends because of the irreconcilable differences between our two systems, the American people and the Russian people can be friends.” President Nixon underlined the word “can.”
The Soviet Union is no more. The U.S.S.R. is no more. The Russian Federation retains systems that suggest an equally robust quantity of irreconcilable differences.
In 2005, in his “Annual Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation,” President Putin shared “Above all, we should acknowledge that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a major geopolitical disaster of the century.”
At SPIEF, there were United States-based attorneys and executives of United States-based companies who professed there should be no further consequence or punishment for the Russian Federation for its Russian Federation-Ukraine War because fertilizer prices are higher than 2022 and aluminum prices are higher than 2022. This argument is delusional and politically tone-deaf. They also refrained from using the word war, replacing it with challenge, conflict, issue, or problem. That is tone-deaf at an exponential level.
To suggest a war commenced in 2014 and expanded in 2022 is now a nuisance easily dispatched is offensive. Tens of millions of citizens impacted in the Russia Federation and Ukraine; hundreds of billions of dollars spent on military conflict rather than schools, hospitals, roads, and other infrastructure; and generational economic consequences for families throughout the world.
Commercial, economic, and financial re-engagement by the United States with the Russian Federation will remain conditioned upon the end of the military component of the Russian Federation-Ukraine War.
Often it seems like leadership in Moscow and Washington DC want to focus upon every bilateral issue not connected with the primary problem... hoping that ignoring the primary problem will remove the primary problem. The primary problem is the Russian Federation-Ukraine War. It is unmovable. Its impact upon the bilateral relationship is debatable and negotiable. The United States Congress will not be persuaded to abandon or forgo sanctions for export and import opportunities with the Russian Federation.
There are visual engagements. There are optics. They are performative. They are not enduring. The Russian Federation-United States bilateral relationship is fragile and will remain fragile given the differences in governance. Both want to dominate. Both want to be in charge. Both want the weak to bend to the strong. Neither wants to be the junior partner.
The Russian Federation-United States bilateral relationship will retain certain abnormalities until there is a generational change in leadership in Moscow and Washington DC along with other countries. President Trump departs at 12:00 pm on 20 January 2029.
On the final day of SPEIF, the government of Ukraine was again a message disrupter and party-crasher. The armed forces of Ukraine bookended SPIEF.
On Wednesday, participants were welcomed by an enormous black cloud created when a drone impacted on an oil facility.
On Saturday, participants were welcomed on the last day by drone attacks.
Saturday, 6 June 2026
4:44 am
Внимание! В 03.59 объявлена: «Беспилотная опасность» в воздушном пространстве Ленинградской области. Телефон экстренных служб 112.
Attention! At 03:59, a "UAV threat" was declared in the airspace of the Leningrad Region. Emergency services number: 112.
6:17 am
Внимание! Угроза БПЛА на территории Санкт-Петербурга, возможны перебои в работе мобильного интернета. Телефон экстренных служб 112.
Attention! UAV threat in St. Petersburg; mobile internet disruptions are possible. Emergency services number: 112.
11:04 am
Отмена угрозы БПЛА на территории Санкт-Петербурга.
UAV threat alert lifted in St. Petersburg.
Внимание! В 09:52 Отбой «Беспилотной опасности» в воздушном пространстве Ленинградской области. Тел. экстренных служб 112.
Attention! At 9:52 a.m., the "Unmanned Danger" alert is lifted in the airspace of the Leningrad Region. Emergency services call 112.
