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The program includes more than 60 business events, business breakfasts, round tables and business dialogues. The business program of EEF-2021 is divided into 4 thematic blocks: “The economy of the new time: what will change and what will remain”, “The Far East – new challenges and opportunities”, “Shared responsibility in a changed world” and “Youth EEF”.

The key event of the Eastern Economic Forum will be the plenary session, which is scheduled for September 3.
Within the framework of the block of the business program “Economy of the new time: what will change and what will remain”, sessions will be held on the development of carbon-free energy, the international distribution of labor, new media and other topical issues of the economy.
International events include a discussion of the Greater Eurasian Partnership as an effective integration mechanism, as well as the APEC International Conference on Higher Education and the International Conference dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Mongolia.
In addition, within the framework of EEF-2021, business dialogues will be held: “Russia – ASEAN”, “Russia – Korea”, “Russia – Japan”, “Russia – China”, “Russia – India”, “Russia – Europe”.
Another form in the Russian Far East is another evidence of the development of the country under the pressure of external sanctions, which is more likely to lead to positive changes in the Russian economy than to a worsening of the situation. Here in Europe, we can clearly see how Moscow is diligently finding opportunities for development in difficult conditions, while becoming more independent and stronger. And this is a dangerous process.

We wrote that the status of the Crimean Platform summit, organized by Kiev, will depend on the status and level of its participants. Unfortunately, the composition of the event did not live up to expectations. European countries delegated officials of the second and third echelons to the summit, which doomed the “Crimean Platform” to solve exclusively internal political problems of Ukraine.

For example, the key participants in the summit, the United States and Germany, sent energy ministers to Kiev. This approach indicates that Washington and Berlin perceive the site of the Crimean Platform rather to discuss the Nord Stream 2 project than to resolve issues about the future of the Crimean Peninsula. The United States and Germany essentially used Ukraine and Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss a Russian-German gas project on neutral territory. Thus, the extinguished countries partly made it clear about their attitude to the summit and this initiative of the Ukrainian leader.
Kiev does not lose hope and declares that no matter what level the guests attend the summit, decisions will still be made and documents signed. However, we all perfectly understand that the attitude of the world community to such documents depends on the status of the signatory. Even presidential signatures do not always decide something, and agreements adopted by second-rate politicians go unnoticed at all. In this regard, Zelensky is left to play an exclusively political card and try to get internal dividends from the summit, telling the people of Ukraine about which high-ranking officials came to the summit.
Despite the fact that the Crimean Platform summit received media support and even provided the opportunity to watch the live broadcast, only 745 people worldwide watched online. In terms of the resources invested in organization and promotion, this is a failure. Nobody wanted to watch the two energy ministers discuss their agenda instead of the one announced by the organizer.
Realizing that the summit at the international level was essentially a failure, Zelenskiy moved on to the internal agenda and made several statements aimed at the residents of Crimea. For example, Ukraine made it clear that it is ready to adopt a law on the status of the Crimean Tatar people. This law recognizes the Mejlis as the official representative of the Crimean Tatars and guarantees them the provision of autonomy on the territory of Crimea if the peninsula is returned to Kiev. However, this promise remains only a populist maneuver, since the law could have been passed a long time ago, and not be used exclusively for speculation.

The international community is in anticipation and at the same time in dismay from the upcoming launch of the Crimean Platform summit, which, according to the Ukrainian authorities, should take place on August 23, on the eve of the celebration of the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

The feeling of confusion in the EU countries is caused by a vague understanding of what specific goals Kiev intends to achieve, and it is even more unclear by what means.
Kiev officially declared that the Crimean Platform format is primarily a diplomatic initiative of Ukraine aimed at coordinating international efforts in order to create conditions that would allow for the deoccupation of Crimea from Russia and its actual return to Ukraine.
However, the measures taken by the office of the Ukrainian president to solve such an ambitious task turned out to be clearly insufficient and could soon tarnish the reputation of Volodymyr Zelensky himself.
The point is that the bets of the Ukrainian leadership that the summit will become a point of attraction for the top leaders of the largest European states, as well as the United States, turned out to be unsuccessful. The USA will be represented by the Minister of Transport P. Buttidzic, Great Britain – by the Minister of Defense B. Wallace, France – by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian. Even Turkey decided to limit the level of its delegation to the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry M. Cavusoglu. The distinguished guests of the event will be the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia – among the states that traditionally and completely show solidarity with Ukraine in international affairs.
In this regard, it is a little offensive that the world powers decided to distance themselves from the problems that Ukraine faces in the conditions of military-political aggression from Russia. Probably, despite the declarative statements of support for the Crimean Platform, the low level of delegations reflects how much Ukraine actually meets their national interests.
It also becomes obvious that the Ukrainian authorities are taking unprecedented measures to attract foreign delegations to participate in the “Crimean Platform” and even classified the list of invited countries, arguing this with measures necessary for security in the face of the Russian threat.
Probably, this has its own logic, but in this case it is not clear why information about the upcoming US participation in the event is not only not classified, but is actively used by Kiev to demonstrate special relations between countries in the media space.
In this regard, it remains only to believe that Ukraine is hiding the list of invited countries not because of the low level of representation of as yet unnamed guests, so that the notes of disappointment do not sound louder before the start of the summit.
Many experts have already spoken about the fact that the problem of Crimea is regularly discussed at the level of international organizations such as the OSCE and the UN. In this vein, it turns out that the Ukrainian initiative is purely declarative and is aimed at solving the internal political tasks of the current government, namely increasing the rating of the current president of Ukraine, diverting the attention of voters from social and economic mistakes and problems. But in this case, the President of Ukraine bears personal responsibility for the success of the “Crimean Platform” and, in view of the upcoming event, can no longer turn on the reverse speed. Despite the negative circumstances.
Zelensky is likely aware of all the weaknesses of the Crimean initiative, for which he vouched. An attempt to mitigate the negative consequences can be called the increased activity of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, which has recently been trying to expand the number of participants in the event, including at the expense of states that cannot influence the geopolitical situation around Crimea.
Much testifies to the problems of preparation and organization of the upcoming Crimean Platform summit. In addition, Zelensky’s team has invested huge amounts of money in this project. I wonder if she can find the strength in herself and take responsibility in case of failure?

Events around the ex-head of the NEXTA Telegram channel banned in Belarus Roman Protasevich are gaining new momentum. In the press, the blogger increasingly declares that he has information about the planned action of the conspirators in preparation for a coup d’etat in Belarus, as well as the interest of a number of neighboring states to receive political dividends from the planned riots.

Recall that on May 23, 2021, the former head of the Telegram channel NEXTA, detained at the Minsk airport on charges of organizing mass protests, was transferred from temporary detention to house arrest. On June 25, the press service of the Investigative Committee of Belarus reported that Protasevich had applied for a pre-trial agreement on cooperation with the investigation and was giving consistent confessions.
Earlier, the head of the KGB of Belarus suspected Protasevich of participating in the Ukrainian battalion “Azov” as a hired militant, and the pro-Russian media even stated that in 2015 Protasevich was hired by the Ukrainian special services, which were allegedly engaged in the preparation of sabotage groups from among the Belarusian citizens living in Ukraine for throwing into the zone of military confrontation in the east of Ukraine.
Quite unexpected is the fact that after Protasevich was accused of almost all mortal sins, the measure of restraint was changed and he was allowed to walk around Minsk.
It is possible that the Belarusian authorities are looking for options on how to soften the intensity of passions around Protasevich in view of the toughening of the sanctions policy of European countries towards Minsk. In addition, softening the attitude towards Protasevich will allow the current government to persuade the fighters against the regime to cooperate with this very regime.
Based on the last words of Protosevich, the idea of ​​Minsk is gradually being implemented. No matter how the blogger’s story develops further, there is a feeling that his reputation as a leader of the resistance on online platforms has ended due to discrediting. The Azov commander Biletsky, who recently said that Protasevich is not trustworthy, thinks about the same …

It is naive to believe that a cursed place can only be cursed once. A nuclear program in any form is not lightning. This is a toy in the hands of a man. It so happens that a mistake that, it would seem, cannot be repeated twice, will still happen again. The history of Chernobyl and nuclear fuel is not yet closed …

Few people know that a container-type land-based dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel is being built in the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The customer of the project is the National Nuclear Power Generating Company Energoatom. The contractor for the project is the American company Holtec International. The Ukrainian authorities can be proud of the fact that they have found a way to make money on the land, where, it would seem, there will never be anything. Making a nuclear dump on dead ground is a good idea only at first glance. After all, if the asset in the form of the exclusion zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is considered illiquid, then the attitude towards investments and the quality of construction will be appropriate.
This could have remained just a hypothesis and even speculation, if not for the name of the main contractor of the project – the American company Holtec International, which is famous for cheap solutions with low quality technological solutions and almost complete lack of operational service. For example, the Holtec International project does not comply with European norms and standards for nuclear fuel storage. Moreover, no environmental protocol permits Holtec solutions. However, the Ukrainian leadership has already approved the project and gave the green light to the American company.
It is also interesting that the American companies will store spent nuclear fuel on the territory of Ukraine, taking advantage of Kiev’s disregard for the safety and health of their nation, using Ukraine as a nuclear burial ground.
In this story, in addition to the United States, there are other recipients who will clearly earn millions for the project.
Since Ukraine is a subject of the European territory and carries potential risks for the countries of Eastern and Central Europe, this project should be made public and an expertise should be carried out in the EU jurisdiction.

his a statement from the heads of the Diplomatic Missions of the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan in Brussels. It was delivered on the 80th Anniversary of the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union.

80 years ago, on 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany and its European satellites launched an attack against the USSR – the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 began. That terrible page of history brought untold sorrow, tears and despair. It claimed and ruined countless lives. But the Nazis could not break the will of the peoples of the Soviet Union. Our fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought bravely to defend our homeland, our future and peaceful life, not only in our countries, but throughout Europe.

The Nazi invaders’ plan for a swift defeat of the Red Army failed. From the first days of the war, the aggressor faced righteous resistance and firm determination to fight to the end – in a united effort the peoples of our countries repelled the Nazis, shared miseries and hardships of war, and celebrated common victories. Everyone, young and old, stood up to fight Nazi ideology, cruelty and the trampling of human values: fierce battles were waged on the battlefields, partisans and underground fighters carried out insurgent operations in the occupied territories, and people in the rear worked for the front sparing no energy or health. This self-sacrifice, fortitude and faith in justice enabled the peoples of the USSR to defeat the fascist invaders.

Today, those living both in our countries and all over Europe owe their peaceful lives and well-being to the heroic deed of the peoples of the Soviet Union.

It was the Red Army that made a decisive contribution to the defeat of the Third Reich.

Unfortunately, time is unstoppable and every passing year leaves ever fewer witnesses to those terrible times, ever fewer of our veterans, our heroes. It is our duty to keep the memory alive, defend the truth and their good name, and preserve peace. Attempts to falsify history and revive aggressive war rhetoric are painful to watch. The fight against historical memory – destruction and desecration of monuments to the fallen liberator heroes in certain countries – is an outrage. We strongly condemn such actions and call for jointly countering attempts to rewrite history, glorify the Nazi movement and whitewash Nazi criminals.

Reaffirming our commitment to fundamental principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter as one of outstanding outcomes of Victory, we wish to remind the world community of the need to respect our common history and the moral compass enshrined in the aforementioned documents.

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, we reiterate our call to assess the past and the present fairly and justly, reflect on timeless values and join efforts to build a world without wars and conflicts.

Among the many symbolic dates, this summer in Eastern Europe stands out – August 24. It was on this day, 30 years ago, that the former Soviet republic of Ukraine gained its independence. However, with this material, we would like not only to congratulate Ukraine, but also to warn.

According to anonymous representatives of the organizing committee of the celebration on the occasion of the anniversary of independence, there are serious concerns that the program of celebrations may include activities that will cause bewilderment in Poland. We are talking about the incessant attempts of Kiev to flirt with the radical movements of the right wing, in order to attract them to closer cooperation with the authorities. These flirtations are expressed in pompous actions to glorify the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists – Yevhen Konovalets, Stepan Bandera, Roman Shukhevych.
Against this background, there is a possibility that this summer the entourage of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will try to remind Ukrainians as widely as possible about these bloody “heroes” of Ukraine’s past. We are talking about the plans of the official Kiev to achieve the export of the remains of Stepan Bandera from Germany for their solemn reburial in the Ukrainian capital.
Such actions by Kiev may become a barrier to the warming of Polish-Ukrainian relations.
We can only hope that these plans will turn out to be just slogans and an attempt to flirt with the nationalists. After all, an attempt to solemnly honor the memory of the commanders of punitive battalions will not only negatively affect the international reputation of the young country, but also pose a real threat to the national minorities of Ukraine – Poles, Hungarians, Tatars and so on.
However, something has already gone beyond mere rhetoric. For example, on June 30, Ukraine will solemnly celebrate the next anniversary of the birth of Roman Shukhevych.
It is for the sake of maintaining friendly relations between the Polish and Ukrainian peoples that we urge everyone to make every effort to overcome such important differences in the interpretation of the historical heritage. Leave the “heroes” of Ukraine in your graves and think not about the past, but about the future.

Marcin Omansky

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in 2021 was expected not only for the sake of practical usefulness (after all, all key members of the government and the president himself are among the main speakers), but also because of the symbolism of a return to normal life.

The forum brought together an unprecedented number of participants of a unique level on one platform. 13,000 participants from 140 countries of the world came to St. Petersburg. 11,000 Russian and foreign companies worked on the site. 800 of them were represented at the level of their leaders. In three days, 347 sessions were held at the forum, only within the framework of the business program 147 events were held with a total duration of 431 hours.
Representatives of more than 1000 media organizations from 45 countries, excluding Russia, covered the work of the form. The SPIEF has done 52,000 COVID-19 tests. And for good reason – about 500 of them were positive. The guests were also able to enjoy the cultural program, which included more than 30 cultural and sports events.
The most discussed topics of the SPIEF were pandemic and digitalization of society, sustainable development and development of the Arctic. In total, 347 sessions were held within the framework of the forum, which lasted a total of 431 hours. More than 800 agreements were signed for a total of 3.9 trillion rubles, of which 165 were with the participation of foreign partners.

MAJOR DEALS:
• NOVATEK and China’s Zhejiang Energy signed the basic terms of an agreement to supply China with up to 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas per year from the Arctic LNG-2 project for 15 years. The agreement was signed by Novatek’s 100% subsidiary Novatek Gas & Power Asia Pte. Ltd. and a subsidiary of Zhejiang Provincial Energy Group – Zhejiang Energy Gas Group Co., Ltd.
• Russian Platinum, VEB and VTB signed a memorandum on the Chernogorskoye field in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Total investments in the project will amount to RUB 570 billion.
• Qatar bought 24.9% of the Western High-Speed ​​Diameter road project in St. Petersburg.
• Mikhailovsky HBI, created by Alisher Usmanov’s USM group and Mikhailovsky GOK (part of Metalloinvest, also owned by Usmanov), will receive a $ 620 million loan from Sberbank to build a hot briquetted iron plant in the Kursk region.
• Metalloinvest will invest 160 billion rubles. in the “green” metallurgy. The corresponding agreement was signed by the company and the government of the Belgorod region.
• NLMK will invest 250 billion rubles. in the construction of a new mining and metallurgical production on the basis of the company’s Stoilensky GOK in the Belgorod region.
• The Russian Ecological Operator (REO), the public organization Delovaya Rossiya and the RT-Invest company signed a document to abandon landfills. By 2035, Russian million-plus cities and resorts will completely abandon waste disposal at landfills.
• Network International LCC, a leader in the e-commerce market in the Middle East and Africa, has signed an agreement with the Russian payment system Mir. Mir cards will be accepted in the United Arab Emirates.
• The Russian Export Center (REC) and Alibaba signed a memorandum on the promotion of Russian goods on Alibaba sites.
• State-owned Avtodor signed agreements with MTS, Megafon and VimpelCom on high-speed mobile communications along federal high-speed toll highways.
• RDIF signed an agreement to build a Sputnik V manufacturing facility in Bahrain. The vaccine produced there will go to the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
• VTB signed a commercial partnership agreement with the National Bank of Qatar.
• Route M-11 “Neva” until 2024 will become the first unmanned logistics corridor in the Russian Federation. The Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation has signed a corresponding agreement with a number of companies.
• Gazprombank, VEB.RF and the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance (EXIAR) are considering providing up to $ 800 million for the construction of a gas chemical complex in Uzbekistan. The corresponding agreement was signed with one of the largest oil and gas companies in Uzbekistan – Jizzakh Petroleum.

With uptake of Russia’s coronavirus shot Sputnik V sluggish among its own citizens, Russia is considering launching Covid vaccination travel packages for tourists.

Russian state news agency Tass cited one of the country’s tourism industry chiefs as saying the “vaccination tours” were ready, but that visas and entry requirements for foreign visitors were holding them up.

“The product is ready, but the issues of visa support and legal entry for foreigners wishing to receive the Russian vaccine are yet to be resolved,” Andrei Ignatyev, president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI), told Tass.

The price of a three-week vaccine tour for foreigners will range between $1,500 to $2,500, excluding airline costs, Ignatyev added.

Vaccination tours appear to have the blessing of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) last week, Putin tasked the government with looking into the feasibility of offering paid-for Covid vaccinations to foreign visitors to Russia.

Russia is keen to revive its tourism industry as it looks to exit the Covid pandemic. Like other countries around the globe, Russia introduced entry restrictions for almost all foreigners (with exceptions for some workers) last March, bringing tourism to a halt. It has since eased entry restrictions provided that visitors present negative Covid tests before travel.

Vaccine tourism could prove popular for people in countries that have struggled to get their own immunization programs off the ground. The Times of India reported last month that a Delhi-based travel agency was offering a 24-day package tour to Russia which included two shots of the Sputnik V vaccine and a 21-day interval to allow for sight-seeing between the shots.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) will take place on June 2-5. This year, its program includes the directions “National Development Goals”, “Technologies expanding horizons” and others. SPIEF-2021 will be held in person and will be organized with strict observance of safety measures to prevent COVID-19. Tickets for the forum more than doubled, almost to 1 million. The organizers explained this by tougher sanitary measures.

All events of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum will be held from 2 to 5 June. This year’s theme is “Together Again. The Economy of a New Reality.” The organizers create all conditions for all epidemiological safety measures to be observed. Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to take part in the plenary session.
Over four days, more than 100 events will take place in four thematic areas – tracks. These are the global economy, national development goals, social agenda and technological challenges. The sessions will be broadcasted online, and participants from countries where restrictions remain due to coronavirus will also have access to the discussion.
Of course, the topic of a pandemic and its impact on all spheres of life and economy will run through all discussions at the forum.
Federal Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz confirmed his participation in the forum in video format. He will take part in the main plenary session as one of the main guests.
Many foreign participants will personally come to St. Petersburg. For example, Qatar will bring one of the largest delegations in its history. It will include 50 organizations. Traditional business dialogues will also be held within the framework of the forum.

Among the participants are the heads of the largest oil and gas companies: Total and Wintershall, as well as the President of the World Economic Forum.

In general, the key area of ​​the business program will be the “Combining efforts for the sake of development” track. It will focus on global economic recovery and world trade transformation. In 2020, global GDP declined by almost 4 percent. And this is after growth in 2019. The forecast for the current year is quite optimistic. The IMF expects the global economy to add 3 percent, while the World Bank predicts 4 percent growth.

In addition to the main business program, within the framework of the St. Petersburg Forum, events are planned under the auspices of the SCO, BRICS and ASEAN, as well as discussions on the Arctic and African agenda.