The Kremlin wanted it, St. Petersburg did it. “After the long break from the pandemic, Russia hosted the first major international event,” said Vladimir Putin on Friday, June 4. On the platform of the economic forum organized in the former imperial capital, the Russian president tried to stage a return to normal after more than a year of covid.
Calling on the Russians, hitherto reluctant, to be vaccinated against the virus, he asked his government to work on “the organization of the conditions” to invite Europeans to come to be vaccinated in Russia. A somewhat strange call as vaccination is in full swing in the EU (much more than in Russia) … But the initiative comes as, in the corridors of the forum, Russian health officials have said they hope for a quick recognition of their Sputnik V vaccine by the European Medicines Agency.
Putin attacks the dollar
In front of the Russian elite and a few big Western bosses, admittedly fewer in number than in previous years, Vladimir Putin called on European countries, despite recent tensions, to pay for Russian gas in euros rather than dollars. A new criticism of the greenback when Russia wants to “de-dollarize” its economy. The head of the Kremlin made another announcement rich in political overtones. He explained that a new step had just been taken on the Nord Stream 2 site, this 10 billion euros gas pipeline under the Baltic at the heart of a diplomatic imbroglio.
Washington believes that this project by Russian giant Gazprom is a bad deal for Europe, increasing its energy dependence on Moscow. However, it is defended by Berlin and half funded by five European groups including Engie. A frozen site that Moscow wants to finish as soon as possible. “Two and a half hours ago, the laying of the first line of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was successfully completed. Work on the second line continues, ”Vladimir Putin told the forum, adding that“ Gazprom is ready to fill Nord Stream 2 with gas ”. But without further details on the other blockages of this site.
Political repression
A few hours before, far from the concerns of foreign investors coming to Saint Petersburg for business, the Kremlin made another, much more political announcement. Vladimir Poutine promulgated the law prohibiting collaborators of organizations listed as “extremists” from participating in the elections. A measure widely seen as a means of neutralizing the opposition before the legislative elections in September and preventing those close to Alexeï Navalny, the leader imprisoned since January, from running as a candidate.
It is part of the current wave of repression. On the same tarmac in Saint Petersburg where several European bosses landed to participate in the forum, the police notably extirpated on Monday a plane ready to take off Andrei Pivovarov, the former director of the oligarch’s Open Russia organization in exile and Kremlin critic, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Prosecuted for “participation in the activities of an undesirable NGO”, he faces up to six years in prison. Another Russian reality behind the staging of the St. Petersburg Forum.
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