Owens, Seagal, and Tates headline Russia’s ‘Davos’ crowd

Americans expected – Russia’s St Petersburg Economic Forum opens Wednesday with an unusual mix of Americans drawn to Moscow—ranging from right-wing influencer Candace Owens and Putin-admiring actor Steven Seagal to controversy-linked Andrew and Tristan Tate, alongside U.S. cultura

When Russia’s St Petersburg Economic Forum opens on Wednesday—informally dubbed the country’s “Davos”—the guest list reads like a map of modern American outrage and aspiration. It includes right-wing commentators chasing Moscow’s “anti-wokery” message and “traditional values. ” a longtime Putin admirer with a Russian passport. and a U.S. official overseeing a high-profile White House construction project.

Organizers officially call the event the St Petersburg Economic Forum. but the shorthand matters less than what it signals: even as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues. the forum is drawing Americans with political. cultural and online followings that are hard to reconcile with the sanctions-era narrative in Washington.

Candace Owens is among the U.S. citizens due to attend. The right-wing social media influencer and podcaster has been fiercely critical of Israel and U.S. funding of Israel, as well as feminism and many other issues. Owens. 37. plans to speak at a session on “balancing parenthood in a large family with a successful career. ” according to the forum’s official programme.

Her presence is also tied to high-stakes U.S. legal conflict involving French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte. They are pursuing a high-profile U.S. defamation lawsuit against Owens. The dispute centers on Owens’s claim—described in the report as false—that Brigitte was born male. Ahead of her trip. Owens said she had been wanting to go to St Petersburg for “a very. very long time” and framed it “just as a Christian in general” so she could “see some of those cathedrals and churches.”.

Steven Seagal is also expected. The former Hollywood action hero and martial arts expert has long admired President Vladimir Putin. from whom he received a Russian passport in 2016. Seagal serves as a special representative of Russia’s Foreign Ministry for humanitarian ties with the United States and Japan. and he is listed as a participant in a panel on culture.

Seagal has been a frequent visitor to Russia. He backed Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014, calling it “very reasonable,” joined a pro-Kremlin party in 2021, and has supported Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The lineup also includes Rodney Mims Cook Jr., chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts. Cook is overseeing President Donald Trump’s controversial White House ballroom extension and is listed as leading the official U.S. delegation to the forum.

Cook will be the first U.S. official to attend the forum since 2017/18, according to the Kremlin, and the first since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022. He is expected to speak at a session on U.S.-Russian cultural dialogue.

In comments to TASS state news agency ahead of the forum, Cook said he was representing the U.S. as a minister of culture and as a Christian. “not as a politician.” He also said he had helped restore various churches in Russia in the past. and that on Tuesday he gifted a religious icon to a male monastery in St Petersburg.

Andrew and Tristan Tate are part of the discussion as well, though their attendance is not yet confirmed. Andrew Tate posted a video of him and his brother receiving a musical Russian welcome at the airport in Moscow on the eve of the forum. The brothers—who have made a practice of keeping their followers guessing—have yet to confirm they will attend.

The Tates have been under criminal investigation in Romania since December 2022 on charges including human trafficking, but the two probes have yet to make it to trial. They also face charges in Britain, including rape, actual bodily harm, and human trafficking; they have denied all wrongdoing.

Both brothers are former kickboxers with dual U.S. and British citizenship. Andrew Tate, described as a self-described misogynist, has gained millions of online fans by promoting an ultra-masculine lifestyle that critics say involves denigrating women.

The forum’s new American cast is striking because it spans three very different kinds of influence: political messaging. cultural signaling. and internet-driven notoriety. Owens brings her brand of ideological warfare over Israel. feminism and defamation claims into a program focused on family and careers. Seagal connects Putin-era personal diplomacy to a panel on culture. Cook, meanwhile, arrives as an official tied to a U.S. White House project—and frames his role in Russia as cultural and religious rather than political. The Tates sit apart, visible in airport footage but still clouded by pending cases in Romania and Britain.

As the St Petersburg Economic Forum gets under way, the central question for Washington and beyond is less about whether these Americans are welcomed—and more about what kind of conversation Russia wants to stage on a day the forum opens.

(Reporting by Andrew Osborn, Editing by Nick Zieminski)

St Petersburg Economic Forum Russia's Davos Candace Owens Steven Seagal Rodney Mims Cook Jr Andrew Tate Tristan Tate Ukraine Vladimir Putin U.S. delegation culture panel humanitarian ties