Russians hoping for peace talks and ‘universal joy’ – but will western brands return?

A cardboard cut-out of Donald Trump in the window of an American bar in Saint Petersburg this month. Photograph: Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images

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.