What happened during the week from 1 to 7 June. The main thing

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2026) was held in St. Petersburg, at the plenary session of which Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed. Parliamentary elections are taking place in Armenia. Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva has won the Roland Garros tournament. All the details and other main events of the week are in the Izvestia digest.

SPIEF 2026 was held in St. Petersburg

SPIEF 2026 was held in St. Petersburg from 3 to 6 June. Anton Kobyakov, Executive secretary of the forum's organizing committee and Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation, said that more than 1,000 agreements totaling 6.6 trillion rubles were signed by SPIEF 2026 participants, and a total of 142 countries participated in the forum. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan said that SPIEF 2026 is one of the most significant platforms for dialogue. Putin, in turn, said that SPIEF 2026 is attractive for industries and states. The foreign participants of SPIEF 2026 also highly appreciated the level of organization of the forum. Asif Iqbal, President of the Indian Economic and Trade Organization, noted the large number of Russian-made robots and unmanned technologies at the site.

Putin spoke at the SPIEF 2026 plenary session

On June 5, the President of Russia addressed the plenary session of SPIEF 2026, which lasted 3.5 hours. The Head of State touched upon a wide range of topics: the economic situation in Russia, negotiations with Ukraine, and the technological transformation in the world. Thus, Putin called the aggressive policy of the European bureaucracy short-sighted and drew attention to the growing tension in certain regions of the world, primarily in the Middle East due to the war in Iran, and pointed out that the world is currently undergoing a major transformation.

In addition, the Russian leader stressed that almost half of the growth in global gross domestic product (GDP) is provided by the BRICS countries. The President also touched upon the topics of digitalization. In his opinion, artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous systems and platform solutions can change the lives of Russian citizens. He stressed that Russia has good prospects in the development of artificial intelligence.

Mirra Andreeva won the Roland Garros tournament

On June 6, Russian tennis player Andreeva defeated Polish representative Maya Chwalinska in the final of the French Open (Roland Garros) and won a Grand Slam tournament for the first time. The match ended with a score of 6:3, 6:2 in favor of 19-year-old Andreeva. For the Russian tennis player, this title was the first in her career at Grand Slam tournaments. Mikhail Degtyarev, Chairman of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation, congratulated the tennis player. According to him, this result only confirms that Russia has one of the strongest tennis schools in the whole world. Former world number one Maria Sharapova also congratulated Andreeva.

Russian tennis player Mirra Andreeva. Biography

Parliamentary elections were held in Armenia

Regular parliamentary elections were held in Armenia on June 7, which are taking place amid pressure on opposition forces. The leader of Strong Armenia, Samvel Karapetyan, said that if his bloc wins the parliamentary elections, the republic will maintain a balance in relations between Russia, the United States and the European Union (EU). He added that there are mass detentions of supporters of the Strong Armenia party in Armenia, more than 100 people have been detained. According to the politician, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has no other means of retaining power except through pressure on the opposition. Former President of the Republic Robert Kocharyan, in turn, stressed that the Armenian authorities are trying to isolate the opposition from voting in the ongoing parliamentary elections. He added that the Armenian authorities have connected the entire repressive mechanism to the elections.

Escalation in the conflict in the Middle East

The United States and Iran have exchanged strikes against targets in the Middle East several times. On June 1, the Central Command of the US Armed Forces (CENTCOM) announced that the United States had attacked targets in Iran. CNN reported on June 5 that Iran had launched a UAV in the direction of the Strait of Hormuz. It was clarified that the US Armed Forces shot down at least four drones. In addition, Air and Space Forces Magazine reported that the Iranian military had seriously damaged the air operations control center of the US Armed Forces in Qatar. Later, on June 6, in response to the American attack on the islands of Sirik and Qeshm, the Iranian army attacked US bases in the Middle East.

On June 4, American leader Donald Trump, during a conversation with reporters at the White House, said that the death of American servicemen in the event of an attack by the Iranian side would be a sufficient reason for a rapid resumption of hostilities. Prior to this, the US president said that there was no need for a ground operation by American troops against Iran. In addition, the head of the White House noted that the United States military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) would be completed either by signing an agreement or by a more difficult way. He added that Iran still has about 21-22% of the missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) available at the time of the start of the military operation.

The Russian Armed Forces continued to conduct a special operation in Ukraine

The Russian army continued to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine. The armed forces of the Russian Federation, in response to the terrorist attack of the Ukrainian army in Starobilsk, inflicted a massive blow on the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine. The Russian army hit 10 enterprises of the military-industrial complex (MIC) of Ukraine in Kiev, the Russian military also attacked three territorial recruitment centers (TCCs, an analogue of the military enlistment office) in the Ukrainian capital. In addition, objects of the aircraft engine-building plant "Motor Sich" were damaged in Zaporizhia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in turn, noted that Kiev is deliberately carrying out terrorist attacks, as in the college in Starobilsk, this creates a "different paradigm" of the conflict.

Over the past week, the Russian army liberated three settlements: Tikhonovka in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Komsomolskoye in the Zaporizhia region and Shevchenko in the Kharkiv region. The Defense Ministry stressed that the Russian military had carried out massive and six group strikes against military targets in Ukraine over the past week. In addition, the Russian air defense forces have hit over 3,000 Ukrainian drones.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces continued to attack the regions of Russia

The Ukrainian army continued to strike at civilians in Russian regions. The governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, said on June 3 that infrastructure facilities and several people in the Kronstadt, Kirovsky and Krasnoselsky districts of the city were damaged as a result of the attack by drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On June 4, a man died in a drone attack on a car in the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR). Kiev also hit a commuter train en route Lugansk – Lantratovka. Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev, in turn, reported on June 5 that three engineers were injured in the Ukrainian Armed Forces strike on the Zaporizhia NPP, two of whom are in serious condition. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced at the same time that five Azerbaijani sailors had been killed in an attack on two cargo ships in the Sea of Azov. Vitaly Korolev, Acting Governor of the Tver Region, noted on June 6 that a man died due to an attack by drones of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a civilian car.