Showcase for “outstanding children” at St Petersburg Forum

The St Petersburg International Economic Forum, personally conceived by Vladimir Putin, was the usual arena for proclaiming the “bright future” of the Russian economy. Alongside Kremlin bureaucrats, this year's event was notable for the presence of Putin's daughters and other relatives, as well as other high-ranking officials. Rather than heirs to top positions, they appeared to be influencers for the younger audience.

St. Petersburg (AsiaNews) - The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2025) was held last weekend. The project was conceived by Vladimir Putin as a prestigious arena for proclaiming the ‘bright future’ of the Russian economy and as a showcase for his most loyal collaborators at home and abroad. This year, the grandiose setting did not correspond much to the quality of the audience, which was much smaller and less ‘international’ than in previous years, and the president reiterated in his speech the rhetorical arguments about Ukraine as a ‘historic part of Russia,’ about the economy converted to military needs as in Soviet times, and about the impossibility for the country to fall into the feared recession.

The Forum was blessed by Moscow Patriarch Kirill, with a preliminary interview in Kommersant, in which he noted a certain “construction boom” in large cities and called instead for “horizontal expansion of the territory”, promoting small towns and villages where it is easier to “support the birth rate and increase the population”.

In addition to the usual caste of Kremlin bureaucrats, this year the figures of the “heirs to the throne”, daughters and relatives of Putin himself and other hierarchs, stood out even more. As in last year's edition, one of the main speakers was Katerina Tikhonova, the president's (alleged) daughter, who gave a presentation on the “technological repatriation” of the many IT experts who have returned to Russia over the past year. Appearing alongside her this year was Ksenia Shoigu, daughter of the head of the Security Council and former defence minister, Putin's loyal ally Sergei Shoigu. Putin's eldest (official) daughter, Maria Vorontsova, also spoke, assuring that “in the very near future, neurotechnologies will become part of everyday life”.

In fact, Russia's political leadership is getting older and older, and the safest route to succession is always through the family. The Forum was therefore attended by the children of Sergei Kirienko, Anton Vajno, Arkady Rotenberg, Yuri Kovalchuk and Mikhail Fradkov, leading officials and oligarchs of the Putin regime. Alongside the sons and daughters of the Russian elite, representatives of the Afghan Taliban were also on display this year, as in 2024, along with a number of guests from African countries, Russia's most reliable and willing allies.

At the opening of the conference, the statements by the deputy director of the presidential administration, Maksim Oreškin, caused quite a stir when he said that “Russia's economic growth model has now run its course”. Other speakers expressed concerns about a possible economic recession, but Putin's speech reassured everyone, assuring them that he ‘will not allow it under any circumstances’ and pointing to the ‘dual purpose’ of the productive apparatus, both civil and military, as the main way to shore up a ‘post-Soviet’ economy, looking back to the fictitious glories of the past. These proclamations were reinforced by the intervention of Putin's niece, Anna Tsivileva, who, with the “Defenders of the Fatherland” fund, oversees the clothing market for both soldiers and disabled people.

Ksenia Shoigu then reported on the collaboration between Russia and the United Arab Emirates and the development of tourism brands, supported by the enthusiastic testimony of Austria's former foreign minister, Karin Kneissl, known for dancing with Putin at her wedding in 2018 and who subsequently moved to Russia, where she is now an expert in combating fake news and “inclusive fashion” on the Russian market. Stepan Kovalchuk, grandson of Putin's friend Mikhail, spoke as vice-president of the Russian social network VKontakte, analysing the prospects for the development of online platforms on the Russian internet. Journalist and politician Ksenia Sobchak, daughter of the mayor of St Petersburg and “Putin's godfather”, expressed her concern about Russian social media. According to political scientist Ivan Preobrazhensky, the “parade of children and grandchildren” serves not so much to identify possible heirs to top positions as to find “new leaders of public opinion”, given that television pundits and propagandists are becoming less and less attractive, and “influencers are needed for the younger audience”.