ST PETERSBURG, Russia — Global business leaders are thin on the ground at Russia's main investment conference in the face of government pressure to stay away because of the Ukraine crisis, but the Kremlin has advised Russian media not to make a big deal of it.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
New York Times: Kremlin tells media to play down investment forum boycott
Russia's Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev , British Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills Lord Peter Mandelson, Boston Consulting Group chairman Hans-Paul Buerkner, Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) president Alexander Shokhin, Russo-British Chamber of Commerce chairman Roger Munnings, take part in the annual Economic Forum in Saint-Petersburg, on May 22, 2014. President Vladimir Putin's showcase economic forum opened today in his hometown Saint Petersburg as worries grow over Russia's economy and after pullouts by Western business chiefs over the crisis in Ukraine. The Saint Petersburg Economic Forum is touted as Russia's answer to Davos, an annual meeting of global business leaders which President Vladimir Putin has attended every year since 2005 and often uses to sign major deals and rub shoulders with state leaders. AFP PHOTO / OLGA MALTSEVA
