There were several moments where President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin exchanged words without interpreters at the high-stakes summit in Alaska to discuss the war in Ukraine — sparking debate about whether or not Putin speaks English.
They joked on the red carpet the Trump administration had rolled out for the Russian strongman in Anchorage and conversed in the backseat of the president’s armored limousine, dubbed “The Beast.”
The car ride was an opportunity for the two leaders to be alone together, aside from security and the driver.
While it’s unlikely the wider world will ever know what the two men discussed, commentators and experts weighed in on what we do know—Putin has a firm grasp of the English language.
When journalists shouted questions to Putin, one being “will you stop killing civilians?” Putin pointed to his ear and shrugged, appearing to suggest he either did not catch the question or he did not understand. Putin also pulled strange facial expressions when the media yelled questions at him when he arrived at the base.
Putin’s own spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in 2021 that the Russian leader, who is also fluent in German, speaks such good English that he “sometimes even corrects the translators.”
“Putin’s English is much better than he lets on,” John Sullivan, former U.S. ambassador to Russia, told CBS: “He’s not as fluent in English as he is in German, he can converse with the German chancellor in flawless German. His English isn’t quite as good, but he could have a conversation with the president in English that President Trump would understand.”
Putin skeptics expressed concern that the Russian and Trump spoke alone in the back of the Beast.
“I am a firm believer that whatever was said between Trump and Putin (whose English is good enough) privately in The Beast for several minutes without witnesses is the real reason for this whole last minute summit,” speculated Democratic commentator Julie Roginsky on X. “And I am not so sure it was just about Ukraine.”
The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump group, pointed out Putin’s command of English in a post on X. The group shared the clip of a reporter asking Putin whether he would stop killing civilians in Ukraine, when the leader tapped his ear and did not answer.
“Putin speaks English, by the way,” said the account.
Canadian Senator Charles Adler also shared the same clip. “Putin can pretend he doesn’t understand English. Truth is, he’s a former KGB agent, conversant with several languages,” Adler said in a post on X. “He likely speaks English at a higher level than Trump. On the other hand, so does a ’57 Dodge.”
Kyiv-based journalist Euan MacDonald said that the Russian delegation had an advantage over the Americans in the crucial peace talks.
The summit behind closed doors had stretched more than two hours at the time of writing and included Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff as well as Russian minister of foreign affairs Sergey Lavrov and Russian policy adviser Yury Ushakova.
“Russian delegates Ushakov and Lavrov are both fluent in English.Rubio and Witkoff do not speak Russian,” MacDonald said in a post on BlueSky. “Big advantage for Putin over Trump. You can bet Ushakov and Lavrov will listen carefully to what the U.S. delegation say among themselves.”
Interpreters on both sides are translating the summit.
Trump had said previously that he would know within “two minutes” of speaking with Putin whether he’d want to end the war.
