St Petersburg holds economic forum … and then some

This weekend, Russia held its annual St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Locally, it’s billed as a “Russian Davos,” a time when world leaders and thinkers get together to discuss the main issues of the day. In fact, it’s a time for Russia to make its investment pitch to foreigners, and for foreigners, who understand that business in Russia is still governed by personal connections, to put in the appropriate face time.

So things like this happen: Spain asks Russia to buy its debt, Russia and China talk about a long-floated gas deal (but get no results), energy CEOs jump over themselves to join the country's oil game, Russian officials promise to institute reforms and crack down on corruption.

International guests get the star treatment – road closures for easy travel and gala performances.

I was in St Petersburg too this weekend, to see some friends who had flown in for the forum (covering it as a story is best left to the wires). I love St Petersburg, it’s one of the best cities on earth, filled with amazing people and a rich history, and architecture and canals that literally take your breath away. I love what Oleg Basiliashvili, one of Russia’s most famous actors, told me about the city: “All of Russia is like a little home – comfortable, a little unpresentable, it smells of pies and mushrooms. But St Petersburg is different: it’s like a resonant note in this orchestra.”

It is – and it isn’t.

On Saturday the city held its Scarlet Sails festival, designed to celebrate the last day of school (read a lovely WSJ story about its history here). It begins as a grand spectacle on the Neva and ends with tens of thousands of people wandering the trashed streets of the city, there are arguments and make-out sessions, shouting matches and intense declarations of love. With the teens, the hormones, the drink, that’s normal enough. What’s not normal is how the police behaved.

Around midnight, I was standing around with some friends off Nevsky, the city’s main street. We noted that we were beside a police car, even took pictures. There were people everywhere. Suddenly we heard shouting and screams: a group of teens from the Caucasus and some Russian youths had gotten into a fight. It started with shoving, within seconds it meant one of the Caucasian teens lying on the ground, being kicked, stomped and jumped on. People stood around watching. Two policemen stood around watching. I ran up to them and asked, “Do you see what’s happening? Are you going to do anything?” One answered: “What can we do?” The kicking and stomping continued, and people began to rush over. One of the policemen finally sauntered over and the Russian youths fled. The teen appeared dead, one of his friends holding his bloodied face and yelling over and over again “Аллахом клянусь!” (I swear to God). Eventually he came to, a woman from a nearby shop ran over and began to clean his face. The policemen stood around and watched and as they saw his eyes open, even though he couldn’t focus on anything, one said: “So you won’t need an ambulance then?” As we walked away we saw the Russian kids just a few feet away, flashing “Sieg Heils.” The police hadn’t made the slightest attempt to go after them.

Walking home at the end of the night, I saw a policeman filming a group of four Russian in their 40s – two women and two men – with his mobile phone. One of the bunch had a swollen eye, a cut lip. I asked one of the women: “Why is he filming you?” She said she had run up to the police about 30 minutes earlier to seek help as her husband was being beaten. “They didn’t do anything, all the police do is spit on us.” So she had filmed the exchange with her mobile phone and this was his response.