Paris Exile Mutes Putin Hometown Charm as Capital Flees

President Vladimir Putin is battling investor skepticism to woo foreign executives descending on his hometown today as Russia’s economy faces a risk of recession and a crackdown on critics scares off top intellectuals.

This year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, which will host the likes of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Rex Tillerson, the head of Exxon Mobil Corp., kicks off amid Russia’s slowest growth in more than a decade, excluding a 2009 recession. Economist Sergei Guriev, who was due to host a panel, fled to Paris in April fearing prosecution over ties to opposition leader Alexey Navalny, himself on trial in a fraud case he says is politically motivated.