Russia's war-weary shoppers eye return of luxury goods and a Big Mac with fries

Talk of an end to the war lifts hopes that western brands will be back in Moscow.

- Pjotr Sauer

After three years of war and western isolation, Russians are starting to hope that the recent flurry of US-Russia diplomacy could offer a path to peace in Ukraine – and restore the sense of normality lost when their leader sent tanks across the Ukrainian border.

Last Tuesday's US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia have sent the country's propagandists and political establishment into euphoria, celebrating what they see as a real chance of achieving Russia's goals in the war at the expense of Ukraine and its European allies, which have been sidelined from discussing the future of the invaded country.

For many Russians, however, geopolitics takes a back seat to ending the war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives – and returning to the life they had before it began.

“There will be universal joy – not because Russia defeated anyone, but because the war has stopped,” said Ekaterina Schulmann, a Russian sociologist based in Berlin.

Polls indicate that support for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine remains consistently strong. Yet they also show that many Russians – especially in major cities like Moscow and St Petersburg – appear to yearn for the pre-war days when they could easily fly to Europe or browse the aisles of Zara.

A recent survey by the independent Levada Center in Moscow found that 61% of Russians favoured peace talks over continuing the war – a record high since the question was first asked in the early days of the conflict.

If there was one clear takeaway from the high-level meetings in Riyadh, it was that the US, under the transactional leadership of President Donald Trump, was eager to revive economic ties with Russia.