Steven Seagal, Candace Owens and Trump’s ballroom commissioner appear at Russia’s top economic forum

By Zahra Ullah, CNN

Moscow (CNN) — Once a gathering place for Western leaders and investors, Russia’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) features a guest list that includes an eclectic mix of American attendees ranging from conservative podcaster Candace Owens, US Commission of Fine Arts Chairman Rodney Mims Cook, Jr., and American actor Steven Seagal.

The Ukrainians are not in attendance, but they made their presence felt as the Kremlin’s flagship business and economic forum got underway under the cloud of drone strikes on Russia’s second-largest city – President Vladimir Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg – just hours before the event started on Wednesday.

Dubbed Putin’s answer to Davos, the forum has seen the number of Western participants progressively dwindle over the years following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Saudi Arabia is the guest of honor at this year’s forum with the Saudi energy minister due to take part in the plenary session with Putin on Friday. In a clear sign of Russia’s move toward business ties with the East, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng is also in attendance with a large delegation.

Cook, appointed to the government commission by President Donald Trump, is the first US official to attend the forum since 2017. His presence has been much touted by the Kremlin, which described him as the leader of the first official US delegation at SPIEF for many years.

Cook told Russian state media on Wednesday he had permission from Trump and the State Department to visit Russia. However, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday that he was “not aware” of an official delegation attending, despite Moscow’s suggestions otherwise.

Nevertheless, Cook was a guest panelist on a “Russia–US: A Cultural Dialogue” on Thursday alongside American actor Steven Seagal and Russia’s Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova. In his opening remarks, Cook started by showing audience members and fellow panelists his “dacha” – a Russian style cabin or country cottage – in Atlanta.

“I’ve been treated again in St. Petersburg with great warmth. Many in this room are personal friends over decades, I’m here to listen and to learn,” Cook said.

“I want to show you how I live; this is my dacha where I live in Atlanta. It is in the Russian wooden vernacular which has touched my heart over the decades and I find it extraordinary,” he added, showing photos of his home on a presentation slide.

Cook’s commission has been tasked with approving the rebuild of the White House ballroom wing and Trump’s “triumphal arch” – a 250-foot monument in the style of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe that the president plans to build in Washington, DC. He also showed images of some of the design plans for these projects.

Cook, who worked on the restoration of Russia’s Arkhangelskoye Palace and New Jerusalem Monastery, spoke of his affection for Russian architect Anton Glikin, whom he called his “surrogate son.” Gilkin, who was also on the panel, is someone Cook has mentored and collaborated with on various projects.

“We have a similar spirit; he is my Russian brother though I regard him as my son,” Cook said.

Gilkin designed the World Athletes Monument, erected in 1996 in Atlanta, after winning a competition through the Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture, of which Cook was a founding trustee.

The architect told the panelists he is overseeing the design of a settlement in the city of Nizhny Novgorod for 450 Western immigrants to Russia who move under the “shared values visa.” The visa was introduced by a Putin presidential decree in August 2024 for migrants who embrace Russia’s traditional anti-woke values.

Earlier, Gilkin told Russian state media that he played several Russian folk songs on the piano for Cook and his daughters during his visit to St. Petersburg.

“Rodney has always been a Russophile; he loves the Orthodox Church and fundamental classical culture. At the same time, he’s an Anglophile, but I would say that Russian culture still ranks first in his hierarchy,” Gilkin told Russian state media TASS.

Russia’s war in Ukraine did not come up during the panel discussion, but Robert Agee, President and CEO of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, said the level of “misunderstanding” and “mistrust” between the two countries is at an all-time high.

Agee spoke of a “huge opportunity” on the business front, and said he’s been discussing projects worth trillions of dollars with Russian Direct Investment Fund head Kirill Dmitriev for the past four years. However, he said those projects can’t materialize until the countries “improve their relationship” – without once mentioning the Russian invasion of its neighbor as an impediment to those business ties.

Agee announced Russia and American ice hockey players will face off in Moscow on July 1 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of US independence. Putin, a longtime ice hockey fan, proposed matches between Russian and American players in a call with Trump in March 2025.

Also on the panel was Seagal, a regular fixture in Russia who in 2016 was handed a Russian passport by Putin himself. The Hollywood actor said establishing ties between Russia and America is his “dream.”

An unlikely and surprising guest this year was conservative American podcaster Owens, who took part in another panel touting family values. A first-time visitor to the country, she spent a couple of days in Moscow with her husband and children, posting photos of her tourist activities, before heading to St. Petersburg.

Owens has become a particularly controversial figure after touting conspiracy theories pertaining to the death of conservative American activist Charlie Kirk and the gender of French first lady Brigitte Macron, who has filed a defamation lawsuit against the podcaster.

On the sidelines of the conference, Owens questioned US support for Ukraine, telling reporters “Americans are getting tired of funding and not knowing where the money is going.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told state media there are no plans for a meeting between Putin and the Americans in attendance.

The self-proclaimed misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan also posted that they are in Russia this week. Andrew Tate posted a video of the two at a Moscow airport receiving a welcome ceremony involving Russian dancing and a traditional offering of bread and salt. Whether the pair are attending the economic forum is not yet clear.

CNN’s Katharina Krebs contributed reporting.

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