(CNN) Russian President Vladimir Putin presides this week over the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, continuing a charm offensive that aims to revive Brand Russia.

This year's forum features high-profile guests: French President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to participate, as are Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan and Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund.

It's the biggest international lineup for the St. Petersburg forum since before 2014, when Russia was hit with US and European economic sanctions over its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and support of a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Back then, Putin was snubbed by international leaders: At a G20 summit in November 2014, he got a cold shoulder from his counterparts , and cut short his visit.

Putin and his inner circle went on to experience further friction with the West over interference in the 2016 US election, the Kremlin's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the poisoning of a Russian former spy and his daughter in the United Kingdom.

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