2 days ago
‘It will do some good': In Moscow, Russians are positive after the Trump-Putin meeting
The summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska concluded on Friday without the announcement of a peace plan for Ukraine. However, in Moscow, it generated some satisfaction and hope, according to Russians interviewed by AFP on Saturday.
For Vitali Romanov, 46, the meeting sparked 'hope that things will get better — for Russia, for the people, and for those fighting' on the front. Met just steps from the Kremlin, this employee of the Moscow Historical Museum said he wishes everything would stop 'now' in Ukraine, where very bloody fighting has continued since the start of Russia's large-scale offensive in February 2022. In a similar vein, Irina, a 55-year-old nurse, believes that the Trump-Putin meeting will 'do good' for Russia.
Trump, who had threatened Russia with 'very serious consequences' if it did not agree to end the war, said he no longer plans any immediate measures following his meeting with Mr. Putin, while Moscow has already been under heavy Western sanctions since 2022. The Russian president's visit to the United States has already been perceived as a diplomatic victory for the Kremlin chief, who had been isolated from the Western world since the attack on Ukraine in 2022. Ukraine and European nations fear that the summit may have allowed Vladimir Putin to influence his American counterpart, who had previously mentioned the possibility of territorial concessions.
Our 'greatness'
Lyudmila, a 73-year-old retired woman from Moscow, is 'absolutely convinced' that Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump 'will be able to reach an agreement, because Trump is not an idiot and understands that our country has greatness, status, and many good people.' She says she 'hopes a lot' for a possible visit to Moscow by the American president, who was invited the day before by his Russian counterpart.
A sign of strong Russian interest in the Alaska meeting, Vadim, a 35-year-old agricultural specialist, said he watched the news on the summit — held late at night in Moscow — 'before going to bed and just after waking up.' He adds that he 'so wants to believe' that relations between Moscow and Washington will improve and that the conflict in Ukraine will end.
The confrontation 'costs too much'
'I don't think relations will improve enough for us to become allies,' tempers Elena, a 36-year-old accountant, while walking with her daughter on Nikolskaia Street, near the Kremlin. 'But in any case, a confrontation costs the superpowers too much for it to continue forever,' she emphasizes.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin parted ways on Friday in Alaska without revealing any possible peace plan for Ukraine, while exchanging multiple engaging statements and friendly gestures. The American president described the meeting as 'very productive,' Putin called it a 'constructive' discussion, but in reality, nothing immediately emerged from their three hours of talks at a military base in Alaska.
For analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, 'this meeting was neither a failure nor a success.' However, according to her, the summit reinforced 'Trump's conviction that Russia cannot be defeated.' And 'his main strategic conclusion is that he will never support Ukraine as fully as Europe does, because he does not believe Ukraine can win a war against a nuclear power,' she wrote on Telegram.
