MOSCOW: Hackers on Friday delayed the start of President Vladimir Putin`s speech to Russia`s flagship economic forum, shorn of strong Western participation as Russia adjusts to the `new reality` of life under Western sanctions.

State companies made a point of publicly signing deals and many firms had stalls with floor-to-ceiling display screens and glamorous attendants at the 25th St Petersburg International Economic Forum, which aims to rival the Davos World Economic Forum.

But the Western investors and investment bankers who had turned up in previous years were conspicuously absent.

`New business from the Italian side is just frozen,` Italian businessman Vincenzo Trani told Reuters on the sidelines of a session titled `Western investors in Russia: new realities`.

`New investment is just impossible and people are not increasing investments.` Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a denial of service attack, which works by flooding servers with bogus traffic, had struck the forum`s accreditation and admission systems. He did not apportion blame but the situation in Ukraine loomed large.-Reuters