MOSCOW, May 6 (RIA Novosti) – The White House has called several large American companies urging their CEO’s and representatives not to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum later this month, according to media reports.
“In light of the US government’s requirements, Alcoa has adjusted its attendance,” Monica Orbe, a spokeswoman for New York-based Alcoa, told Bloomberg in an e-mailed statement last week. The company will “participate via its most senior Russian executives,” she said.
“Obviously, companies will have to make their own decisions, but we believe that the most senior business executives traveling to Russia to make high-profile appearances with Russian government officials at events such as this would send an inappropriate message,” The New York Times cited White House spokeswoman Laura Lucas Magnuson as saying.
The New York Times added that several senior US executives had expressed aggravation at being pressured. “The understanding is that those that choose to go will be on the Obama administration’s dog list,” said a participant of a closed meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce’s in Moscow, according to the paper.
The forum’s official website still names a number of senior American executives as participants. Though Bloomberg has reported that Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd C. Blankfein and Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman were canceling their travel plans, their names remain in the program.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is an annual international conference dedicated to economic and business issues. Each year, over 5,000 political and business leaders, leading scientists, public figures, and members of the media from all over the world, gather at the forum under the auspices of the Russian president to discuss the most pressing issues facing Russia and the world.
