As Moscow and Washington talk, Russians hope the result is normalcy

Boston Globe

19-02-2025

On Tuesday, speaking on the main political news show on state television, Yuri Afonin, a Communist lawmaker, said that direct talks between Moscow and Washington were a reward for Russia's resilience over the past three years.
'Russia has proved that it can hold talks about the future of the world on par with the US,' Afonin said.
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'This is not just about negotiating an end to the conflict,' he said. 'It is about a new world order.'
But for some people in Moscow, a potential settlement is less about geopolitics and more about the end of bloody fighting in a war that has claimed thousands of lives.
'I'm feeling better now that we see that the issue is going to be solved at the negotiating table, not on a battlefield,' said Dmitri, 31, a marketing specialist.
In a phone interview, Dmitri, who asked that his last name not be used to speak candidly about the war, said that although he did not support President Vladimir Putin and his policies, he believed some of the Kremlin's claims that the government in Ukraine had been pressuring the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.
Most of all, Dmitri said, he wanted the war to stop. He said Putin's threats to use nuclear weapons during the war had made him 'weak in the knees.'
'Both sides are very entrenched right now,' he said. 'I can't wait for it to end.'
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The Kremlin has portrayed the end of the war in terms of a grand deal that should cement its hold over at least parts of Ukraine. But many Russians see it as a return to a time when people did not have to worry that their children would get drafted to fight or fear being detained for antiwar posts on social media. And they are expressing hope that an end to the war will also bring an end to sanctions that have battered the economy.
According to estimates by groups tracking war deaths, more than 150,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and many more wounded in a conflict that has ground on for three years. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the country fearing a forced mobilization or crackdowns on those opposing the invasion or expressing other forms of dissent.
On the home front, Russians have had to cope with shortages of commodities, and soaring prices and interest rates.
On social media, some whose relatives and friends have been devastated by the war are still preoccupied with familiar questions: How can they get loved ones away from the front lines? Can they get benefits for partners who have been killed in the fighting?
For many Russians, Washington's sudden about-face toward their country appears to have led to a surge of admiration for and interest in President Trump.
In Moscow, sales of Trump's books and books about geopolitics have soared since January, one of the leading bookstore chains told Kommersant, a Russian business daily. A leading Russian publisher said it had run out of copies of 'Trump: The Art of The Deal' and that sales of 'Think Like a Champion,' another book by Trump, had increased threefold.
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So far, reports about brands and direct flights to the United States returning to Russia have been purely speculative. There are no plans to restore direct flights between Moscow and US cities, and no Western brands have officially announced their return to Russia.
Still, rumors that they would be back — speculation that was amplified by state media as signals that Russia had prevailed in the conflict with the West — were indicative of the overall mood.
Anatoly Aksakov, a Russian lawmaker in the lower house of parliament, expressed confidence that the likes of Visa and Mastercard would want to reenter the country's market.
'Obviously, they want to return to the Russian market faster, so that they can make money on it,' Aksakov said.
And since a phone call between Trump and Putin last week, state television has been trumpeting what it portrays as Russia's restored stature on the global stage.
Dmitri Kiselyov, host of Vesti Nedeli, the flagship Sunday news show on Russian state television, said the call between the two presidents was 'a political earthquake, or more precisely, a devastating tsunami for America's European allies.'
He added, 'The White House struck them in the heart by declaring the system of current European values false and even harmful.'
Others were more cautious.
Artyom Sheynin, host of a political talk show on Channel One, started his broadcast Tuesday by examining a picture of Russian and US officials meeting in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
'Everyone sat nearly impenetrably stone-faced,' Sheynin said. 'This indicates symbolically where our attempt to turn the clock back starts from,' he added. 'We are doing it without any 100 percent guarantee that we will be able to succeed.'
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Some conservatives, whose nationalist views have become highly influential in Russia over the course of the war, have also expressed skepticism that the talks will produce quick results. They have even suggested that the negotiations could undermine their country's self-reliance.
Zakhar Prilepin, a popular conservative writer, warned in a post Tuesday that the return of Western brands could hurt Russian companies that have been stepping up production in response to the sanctions and shortages of Western goods.
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