Despite the Russian Presidential Administration's order for all bloggers and journalists to write that this year's SPIEF is being held without escorts, they were, of course, there. VChK-OGPU and Rucriminal.info found corresponding search queries on a specialized forum where sheikhs from the UAE also commonly search for escorts. For example, girls were sought for St. Petersburg on June 2nd and 3rd (teenage girls with a modest salary of 100,000 rubles net), as well as for June 4th (15 top-class models with an unlimited budget were needed). Regarding the SPIEF itself, a source described the event as follows: "Technologically, everything was beautiful this year (some of the stands were truly impressive), but completely empty in content. Only one discussion generated any excitement – with Siluanov about taxes. Everyone was openly asking questions about how daily arrests and nationalizations were simply destroying business and everything possible in the country. But there were no answers, since everyone knew who was receiving the nationalized property. The achievements were also "impressive." The Ministry of Culture signed an agreement with the Ryazan Region, the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a federal state unitary enterprise controlled by it, and so on. The party was a separate topic. Leningrad was indeed cancelled entirely—it was scheduled to perform at two parties. Alfa Bank, for example, changed the event's script and menu at the last minute, making them less elaborate. In general, they were saying outright, "We don't need all these parties; it would be better to hold an event with veterans of the SVO."
