On 3 June, the Kremlin announced that journalists from “hostile countries” would not be allowed to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The St Petersburg Forum has been held since 1997 and is considered by many officials to be Russia’s response to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Western journalists have so far not been denied such access to the forum, Reuters reports.
“This time it has indeed been decided that we will not accredit houses from hostile countries,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.
“Enemy states” is the definition Moscow uses to describe those it has sanctioned over the war in Ukraine.
The organisers of the Forum told Reuters on Friday that they had revoked the accreditation of the journalists after receiving a previous confirmation of accreditation on Thursday.
Reuters has asked for a written clarification but has not yet received one.
When Russia was booming in the 2000s, large Western investors and investment bankers flocked to the forum, Reuters reported, adding that in recent years the Westerners have been replaced by Chinese and Arab investors.
Putin said earlier that Russia was turning to China and Asian powers because the West had launched what he called an economic and hybrid war against Russia aimed at tearing the country apart./RSE/
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