Between fatigue and apathy: this is how Russians are experiencing the peace negotiations in Ukraine

MoscowDespite the fact that Christmas lights have been illuminating the streets of Moscow 24 hours a day since December 1st, socially it's a city asleep. "What exactly is going on?" asks Ramil when asked his opinion about the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's envoys taking place at that hour in the Kremlin. to discuss a new peace planLike him, many Russians live disconnected from current political events and only find out when the police ruthlessly block traffic on main avenues to make way for the authorities. Citizens occupy the same spaces as their leaders, but their realities overlap, never converge.

Apathy is one of the many survival strategies Muscovites have developed in the last four years. And, despite having turned their backs on the war, the conflict is increasingly present in the daily lives of Russians, even if it doesn't always affect them. In the capital, there aren't many families who have lost children on the Ukrainian front, nor are there gasoline shortages due to attacks on refineries, nor are there constant internet blockages to inhibit enemy drones. But the cost of living remains skyrocketing, the government is taking advantage of the war to further restrict freedoms—this week they banned FaceTime and Snapchat and shut down many VPN networks used to circumvent censorship—and travel to Europe is still impossible for most Russians.

“I don’t believe the authorities have shut down WhatsApp,” says Yelena, a retired woman who complains that her daughter always blames the government for everything. She wants the war to end so she can live like before, without sanctions and without that daily background noise of misfortunes in the news; although it’s highly unlikely that Russia will be the same in 2021, no matter how much peace arrives, at least in the short term. The fatigue with the conflict is real: 61% of Russians support negotiations, according to the latest Levada Center poll. Since Trump’s return to the White House, the media hasn’t stopped talking about peace, and Putin has shown himself willing to discuss an agreementThis has generated expectations that he himself is now frustrating.

"Russia must win"

However, since the United States spearheaded the latest negotiating effort, these same media outlets have been working to dampen the chances of an agreement and reveal their most inflexible side. The Kremlin has sounded the alarm. Through the so-calledtemnikiInformal guidelines that newspapers receive on how to handle sensitive topics have led the press to close ranks with Putin's position, even expressing it more clearly than he does. When Putin declares, "We want peace, but if necessary, we will achieve our goals by force," headlines translate it as: "Since Ukraine and Europe want to continue fighting, the realistic thing is that we have to achieve victory on the battlefield." No one expects a quick resolution. But, according to the Russian government's narrative, if the war doesn't end, it's because Kyiv doesn't want to accept defeat or acknowledge that the only reasonable path is to accept Russian conditions. Until this happens, the Kremlin says, Russia has no choice but to continue a war it didn't start.

There is no peace for Russians except on their terms. That's why, even though two out of three want the negotiations to succeed, 74% support the military's actions. “We are right, Russia must win,” says Yelena, a regular listener of Zvezda, the Defense Ministry’s radio station. Raised in a Russian family in western Ukraine, she has been wary of Ukrainians since childhood and doesn’t understand their resentment toward Russians. For her, the Kremlin’s propaganda narrative promoting the eradication of Ukrainian Nazism is entirely consistent with her own experiences. She also doesn’t believe that Russian bombs have leveled cities and killed thousands of civilians. “We couldn’t have done that,” she asserts, while Putin insists, “With Ukraine, we are acting surgically, with care.”

The Silenced Moscow

There is another Moscow, silenced, a minority, that is anxiously following these negotiations. "I'm desperate," admits Marina, who is nearing forty and recently managed to visit Europe. She laments that this is the sixth time Steve Witkoff has come to the Kremlin and that Putin still isn't interested in ending the war. Furthermore, she believes that the pro-Russian wording of the latest US draft He predicts "an unjust end." To openly express such a viewpoint, naming names, is a crime in Russia today.

Many Russians will probably write a letter for peace, leaving it in the freezer for Ded Moroz ("Grandfather Frost," the Slavic version of Santa Claus) to collect and bring them New Year's Eve presents. It will be a vague wish, not entirely within their control, so they have no formulas or right to an opinion. Everything is in the hands of Vladimir Putin, the supreme commander-in-chief. He is the only one who knows what is best for the country and can convince his citizens of the merits of his choice, whether he decides to make peace or continue the war.