The three-day international event focuses on key economic issues in Russia and the broader multipolar world

Russia is hosting the 28th annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2025), which began on Wednesday. Thousands of participants are expected to attend the three-day event.

This year’s main theme is ‘Common Values – the Basis for Growth in a Multipolar World’. According to the forum’s program, discussions will focus on global economic challenges, cooperation models, and sustainable development amid geopolitical turbulence.

The agenda includes around 150 events across five tracks: ‘World Economy: New Platform for Global Growth’, ‘Russian Economy: New Quality of Growth’, ‘Man in a New World’, ‘Living Environment’, and ‘Technology: Striving for Leadership’. The program features panel discussions, SME forums, and creative industry sessions.

 

SPIEF 2025 will also host 19 business dialogue meetings between Russia and its key partners, including Africa, Brazil, and the UAE, as well as EAEU-ASEAN discussions. The International Youth Economic Forum ‘Day of the Future’ is also scheduled during the event.

18 June 2025

22:22 GMT

Tehran has not asked Moscow for military assistance, President Vladimir Putin has said in response to a question about whether Russia is ready to send arms to Iran. Moscow has previously offered Tehran cooperation in air defense systems but the Iranian side “showed little interest,” according to Putin. An agreement between Moscow and Tehran on strategic partnership does not involve military cooperation, he added.

22:11 GMT

President Vladimir Putin has refused to answer a question about a potential assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “I don’t want to even discuss it,” he told the late-night Q&A.

22:07 GMT

Putin has said that he is ready to meet with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, however, Moscow still wants any agreements with Kiev to be signed by “legitimate authorities” from the Ukrainian side. If the Ukrainian leader is illegitimate, it makes his whole system of governance illegitimate, the president added.

Moscow does not care, who leads Ukraine at the negotiating table, Putin has told journalists. What matters is that the final documents bear a “signature of legitimate authorities.”

21:49 GMT

US President Donald Trump is right when he says the Ukraine conflict would have never started, had he been the president at the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the gathered journalists. Now, the conflict needs a solution that would not just stop the hostilities but would prevent violence from breaking out again in the future, he added.

21:47 GMT

Putin dismissed Western rhetoric about an alleged threat posed by Moscow to NATO as an “inconceivable lie.” The West uses such claims to justify its domestic policies, the president claimed. A so-called “Russian threat” could be used to raise taxes and divert funds to the military industrial complex, he told journalists at the late-night Q&A.

21:44 GMT

Moscow does not consider any NATO rearmament to be a threat to Russia, Putin has told the journalists. Certain threats could arise from the US-led military bloc’s actions but Russia would be ready to address any threats to its security, he stated, adding that any increase in defense spending by NATO would not make any difference.

21:29 GMT

Putin has hailed Indonesia as one of the most rapidly developing nations and one of the most populous countries in the world. The Asian nation is experiencing a major economic transformation and Moscow is willing to contribute to Jakarta’s integration into BRICS that would benefit both Indonesia and the group, he said, adding that “Russia has a plenty to offer in the field of high technologies.”

21:21 GMT

Russia could “work together” with Iran to “ensure its interests” in peaceful nuclear energy, Putin has told journalists in a Q&A on the sidelines of SPIEF. Moscow and Tehran have “close” and “trusted” relations, the president noted, adding that over 200 Russian specialists are currently working in Iran at a nuclear power plant construction site. “We have reached an agreement with Israel on their [Russian specialists] security,” Putin said.

21:16 GMT

The world needs to seek a way to stop the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Iran that would allow both sides to reach an agreement, Putin has said. Iran’s interests in peaceful nuclear energy development should be respected as well as Israel's in security, he suggested.

Russia has contacted the US, Israel and Iran and offered its services as a mediator, the president said. “There are ways to ensure Iran’s interests in peaceful atomic energy and alleviate Israel’s security concerns,” he said, adding that Russia is not imposing its vision on anyone but only offers its aid in mitigating the crisis.

21:11 GMT

A potential supply of German-made long-range Taurus missiles to Kiev “would not affect the dynamics [of the conflict] but will spoil relations between Germany and Russia,” the Russian president warned.

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