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Monday's summit gives Putin the opportunity to play a role that he has been perfecting for 18 years: Play the state man. As a royal wedding or Trump's meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Helsinki will be an extraordinary opportunity to take photos for the Kremlin leader, placing him on an equal footing with his US counterpart
Trump gives the meticulously prepared Russian President a chance to appear as the most assured player, sitting with his reputed American counterpart impertinent and improvised.
Putin is always well informed: his annual marathon press conference is perhaps the most important of the Kremlin. revealing his vast knowledge, having mastered the minutiae of economic data and statistics.
Putin's meeting with Trump could be the distraction he needs right now. Russians may have World Cup fever, but the month-long celebrations have not improved the well-being of citizens.
In a survey conducted at the height of the World Cup, VTsIOM found that all indexes The level of welfare in June was down compared to the same period last year. Respondents said they felt more pessimistic about a range of factors: their financial well-being, their confidence in the economy and their support for the country's political march.
Compared to the same survey in mid-2014, when country was swept away by nationalist pride on the annexation of Crimea, optimism in Russia fell sharply.
The main factors? According to VTsIOM, rising fuel prices and a government proposal to raise the retirement age have shaken Russian economic and social confidence
. the Soviet system. The proposal to gradually raise the retirement age to 63, from 55 for women to 65 for men and 60 for men, has been proposed as an exercise in fiscal discipline. But critics said the decision to go ahead with the unpopular plan on the opening day of the World Cup suggested that the government was trying to bury the bad news .
But Putin still enjoys great popularity. According to independent pollster Levada Center, his approval ratings regularly oscillate around 80%, a figure that any American president would want. The way he manages Trump in Helsinki will not fail to fuel these rankings
The summit is not the first meeting between Trump and Putin, and in the past, the two men openly congratulated, Putin having above all the gift of say the things that directly appeal to Trump. In his 2015 annual press conference, long before candidate Trump ensured the nomination of his party, Putin described Trump as "a brilliant and talented person" who was clearly the runner-up.
But much has changed since 2015 and compliments are now flowing less easily. Trump suggested at a press conference on Friday that he would be a difficult interlocutor in Helsinki. Asked about the annexation of Crimea by Putin in 2014, he blamed President Barack Obama, saying of Putin: "I do not think he would have done it with me."
But what are the Russians waiting for the Trump-Putin meeting? They are not optimistic.More than half of 39, between them do not foresee significant changes for their country after one against one, according to a VTsIOM poll.
And Trump will be under pressure in the United States to confront Putin, following the indictments of the 12 Russians: Despite the discomfort of European capitals over Trump's recent criticisms of the NATO alliance, the Russians are not convinced that the summit will result in a real resetting in Russian-American relations
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