MOSCOW, May 11 — The US embassy in Moscow is encouraging American business leaders to attend Russia’s premier economic forum for the first time since the Ukraine crisis, even as political tensions between the Cold War rivals continue to rise.

Ambassador Jon Huntsman, appointed by President Donald Trump last year, has been promoting the May 24-26 event to US business and plans to attend. The US government had in past years actively lobbied executives to steer clear of the Kremlin’s main annual pitch for foreign investors, after Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.

"We have a lot of American businesses who are going to be there,” Huntsman said in a video posted yesterday on the embassy’s Twitter account. "It’s a very important time to talk about the future economic relationship between the United States and Russia.”

US sanctions have expanded steadily since 2014, hitting top companies and businessmen last month and sending the rouble sliding.

Tone change

But the embassy is sending an upbeat message these days. "They’ve stopped discouraging participation at the St Petersburg Economic Forum and, on the contrary, are encouraging companies to come,” Alexis Rodzianko, who runs the American Chamber of Commerce in Moscow, said of US officials. "They’re saying the more important people you send, the better. There’s been a change in tone and message.”

Huntman’s predecessor, John Tefft, attended the forum last year, ending a three-year hiatus for official US representation but keeping a low profile without any pitch to businesses to participate.

Still, Huntsman’s powers of persuasion appear to be lacking. Despite President Vladimir Putin headlining the glitzy event, a preliminary list of attendees shows a lack of firepower from US companies, as Russia’s sluggish economic outlook rather than political pressure keeps senior executives away.

US firms active in Russia seem to be mostly content to send local executives, with the exception of ExxonMobil Production Co’s Neil Duffin and the head of International Paper Co, Mark Sutton, who forum organisers say are expected to come. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP said it would send Chairman Bob Moritz. Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait will moderate a panel with Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on May 25.

Trade between the US and Russia rose 16 per cent last year to US$23.2 billion, making America Russia’s sixth-largest trading partner, according to data from the Russian Federal Customs Service.

"It’s difficult enough to persuade international investors to contemplate Russian assets at the best of times but recent sanctions and the prospect of further measures being implemented at any time, imperils any capital commitment,” Julian Rimmer, a trader at Investec Bank Plc, said today. "‘Those who aren’t obliged to make the trip, won’t.”

Russia’s Davos

The ambassador’s efforts come as Trump has repeatedly pushed for a better relationship with the Russian leader, and invited Putin to Washington after he won a record fourth term in March.

Yet any personal desire to engage with Putin hasn’t stopped Russian-US relations from deteriorating to their lowest point in decades. The two nuclear superpowers are squaring off from Iran and Syria to Ukraine.

Putin uses the event in his hometown, modelled on the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to showcase business opportunities. Russia will need investment if he is to achieve his target, announced at his inauguration on Monday, of boosting the economy to be the fifth-largest in the world by the end of his six-year term. He’s announced that goal in the past but weak growth has left Russia falling short. — Bloomberg