Cut off from the West, Russia is pitching its $2 trillion economy to giants like China and Saudi Arabia and longer-term prospects like Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at its premier investment forum in St. Petersburg, which was founded by the tsars as a window to Europe. The war in Ukraine has led to the biggest upheaval in Russia's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and Western sanctions have forced a once-in-a-century revolution in Russia's economic relations.
The 2022 invasion of Ukraine, though, has forced President Vladimir Putin to pivot towards Asia and the rest of the non-Western world amid what the Kremlin says amounts to an economic blockade by the United States and its European allies. Western sanctions have not torpedoed Russia's economy, however, and Moscow has nurtured ties with China, major regional powers in the Middle East and across Africa and Latin America.
State-controlled banks such as Sberbank, VTB <VTB and VEB have massive stands, as do Russian regions and ministries along with resource giants such as Gazprom Neft and Novatek. In a sign of the times, Alfa Bank's stand was a vast Chinese inflated dragon adorned with Chinese characters and an assertion that Alfa was 'the best bank for business with China.' Chinese luxury car brand Hongqi featured armored vehicles.
Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman met Putin's energy point man, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, at the forum. Novak said 'friendly countries' took the vast majority of its oil exports and that about 70% of it was paid for in national currencies. 'We already supply 95% of oil and petroleum products to friendly countries this year in four months,' Novak said.