Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will not be seen until Friday evening, Moscow time, Alaska, but Russian dolls with their effigies are already rubbing shoulders with souvenirs in the Russian capital where, more than 7,000 km of anchorage, Moscovites dream of rapprochement.
“I think there will only be positive decisions made at this summit,” enthuses with AFP Boris, tax inspector, walking in the famous Piétonne Arbat street.
The Russian and American presidents “will find common points on the conflict”, and “war will be over” in Ukraine, where Russia has been carrying out a large -scale offensive since February 2022, wants to believe this 60 -year -old man in fine glasses.
Ioulia, who gets a picture of herself with a photo near a flower pergola, also hopes that “everything will work out” after this summit where neither the Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelensky nor the European leaders were invited.
“It is important that two superpowers, which have very powerful weapons (…) are united and co-exist,” assures AFP this 44-year-old woman who works in events.
The Russian assault on Ukraine has made tens of thousands of deaths, including many civilians, reduced whole cities in ruins and thrown millions of Ukrainians on the roads of exile.
Some 3.7 million of them have found refuge elsewhere in the country, and 6.9 million Ukrainians fled in other European countries, according to UN figures published in March.
“That’s enough to wage war. It is time to find an agreement, ”abounds Guennadi, 85, who came rue Arbat with his wife to admire a photo exhibition.
Irina, a 65 -year -old teacher, says he wants “Trump’s projects to come true”.
Live in peace”
The American president dreams of a great reconciliator who wants to arrest the bloodiest conflict in Europe since the end of the Second World War and dreams of a Nobel Peace Prize.
“The American people, the Ukrainian people, the Russian people, they are peaceful peoples and they want to live in peace,” said Irina. For his part, Vladimir, 69, says he is “more realistic” and expects “nothing good”.
“The only thing (this summit) could lead is that they will find at some point a possibility of suspending certain air and sea fights” but that there will be no generalized ceasefire, “he said to AFP.
Three sessions of peace talks, the last of which was held in Istanbul in July, only led to prisoner exchange agreements, as the positions of the two parties remain at the antipodes.
Russia claims that Ukraine gives it four partially occupied regions (Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporijjia and Kherson), in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014, and that it renounces Western arms deliveries and any membership in NATO.
Unacceptable requirements for kyiv, which requires an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, and the pure and simple withdrawal of Russian troops which currently control around 20% of the Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine also calls for European and American to provide him with solid “security guarantees”. In a Moscow souvenir shop, Donald Trump is not on any Russian doll alongside Vladimir Putin, unlike the Chinese president Xi Jinping, regularly described as “great friend of Russia” by his Russian counterpart.
“Maybe, next week, we will have one with Putin and Trump together. It all depends on the results of the summit, ”smiles a saleswoman.
