Last week, Vladimir Putin hosted a noticeably smaller, more isolated St. Petersburg Economic Forum. Once upon a time, when Russia was still open to the West, the annual event was Putin’s chance to show off not just his hometown, a restored imperial jewel box, but all of the ways his country’s modern economy had become an integral part of the First World. It was the elite event of the year, where representatives from the biggest global companies would rub elbows with top Kremlin brass and foreign diplomats and officials. Now, for the third time since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin hosted a conference much changed. Gone were the Western oilmen and bankers, the European diplomats and American television cameras. Gone, too, were many of the local journalists who used to cover the event as a Russian Davos. Most of them are in exile, many having been charged with crimes against the state.