President Trump said he trusted President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to comply with any peace agreement on Ukraine that they are negotiating. Many Russians who fled the country in the first months of war are not sure.
Nor do they have much faith that the conditions that led them abroad – including a repression against any political dissent – changes anytime soon, whether Mr. Trump manages to negotiate a ceasefire or not. For the moment, these talks seem to have blocked since Mr. Putin pushed a proposal from Mr. Trump and Ukraine for a 30 -day truce.
“The war will be over when Putin is over,” said Pavel Snop, a real estate agent from Saint Petersburg who fled to Turkey three years ago. He added: “Putin will continue to negotiate: but he is negotiating not for his country and his citizens, but for the relief sanctions for him and his friends.”
For the Kremlin, the future of some 800,000 Russians who fled their country after the invasion is a sensitive political and economic subject. Their existence is a brutal reminder that many Russians opposed war, or at least did not want to fight there.
The exodus of so many people, who tend to be very educated and to work in professional fields which are in great demand, has also been harmful to the economy, according to experts.
