Celebrities and a Trump ally headline Russia’s SPIEF forum amid waning Western ties

At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Trump-appointed US Commission of Fine Arts chair Rodney Mims Cook Jr. joined panels with Steven Seagal and Candace Owens. Cook claimed he had approval from Trump and the State Department, though Senator Rubio said he wasn’t aware of an official delegation. The Kremlin framed Cook as leading a rare US presence as Western participation at SPIEF dwindles and Russia leans toward East partners like Saudi Arabia and China; panels included a Russia–US cultural dialogue, with Seagal and Owens lending celebrity and partisan prominence to the event.