The Kremlin has secured two Western figures it has long sought ahead of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, with Rodney Mims Cook Jr. — chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts and a Donald Trump appointee — heading what Moscow is billing as the first official US delegation in nearly a decade, and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder appearing in Moscow on the eve of the event.
Cook's arrival in St. Petersburg was reported by TASS on 1 June and confirmed the following day by Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov, who told reporters that the United States has not sent an official delegation of comparable rank since 2017 or 2018. Cook is scheduled to appear at the forum's "Russia – USA: Dialogue of Cultures" panel alongside Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres head Valery Gergiev and Hermitage Museum director Mikhail Piotrovsky — both longstanding Kremlin cultural figures.
The Commission of Fine Arts is a small federal body that advises on architecture and design in Washington and has no foreign-policy mandate. Cook, an Atlanta-based classical architecture advocate who founded the National Monuments Foundation, was elected chair in January 2026 after Trump returned him to a commission from which the Biden administration had removed him in 2022. He is currently advising the White House on a programme of presidential building works championed by Trump.
Schröder lands at the Kempinski
Schröder, 82, was spotted at the Kempinski hotel in central Moscow on 2 June by ntv correspondent Rainer Munz, with the German channel reporting that he was likely to travel on to St. Petersburg for SPIEF. Neither Schröder nor his offices have publicly confirmed the visit.
The former chancellor, who led Germany from 1998 to 2005 and chaired the Social Democrats from 1999 to 2004, has remained one of the most senior Western figures in continuous contact with Putin. He sat on the board of Rosneft until 2022, held positions at Nord Stream and Gazprom, and has not publicly condemned the full-scale invasion launched in February 2022.
Putin named Schröder in May as his personal preference for any future EU-Russia negotiator. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas ruled it out on the grounds that Schröder would be "sitting on both sides of the table." Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha was more caustic, telling reporters the candidate "is definitely not Schröder," and adding: "Just so the Russians don't suggest Gérard Depardieu, Steven Seagal — I don't know, maybe they'll drag Orbán in as a negotiator on their side."
A Kremlin showcase
SPIEF 2026 runs from 3 to 6 June at the Expoforum convention centre. Ushakov claimed the event has drawn roughly 20,000 registrants from more than 100 countries, with government-level representation from 76. Saudi Arabia is the designated guest country, with Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud heading the delegation, and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan is scheduled to address the plenary alongside Putin.
The Western guest list extends beyond Cook and Schröder. Confirmed attendees include representatives of Germany's far-right Alternative für Deutschland, Romanian nationalist Diana Șoșoacă, Luxembourg MEP Fernand Kartheiser, former US weapons inspector Scott Ritter and UNCTAD Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan.
For the Kremlin, the convergence supplies the optics it has cultivated since 2022: that despite sanctions, an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Putin and the continuing war on Ukraine, Russia retains channels into Western capitals. None of the listed Western attendees represents a sitting government decision-maker on Russia policy.
