ST. PETERSBURG, Russia –
Cut off from the West, Russia is focusing its $2 trillion economy on giants like China and Saudi Arabia and longer-term prospects like Zimbabwe and Afghanistan at its main investment forum in St. Petersburg, which the tsars founded as a counter to Europe.
The war in Ukraine has led to the biggest upheaval in Russia’s relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, and Western sanctions have forced a once-in-a-century revolution in Russia’s economic relations.
Since Peter the Great laid the foundation for the modern Russian state in the early 18th century and made St. Petersburg its capital, Russia’s rulers have looked to the West as a source of technology, investment and ideas.
