A surprising clip of Vladimir Putin speaking English has resurfaced, showing the Russian president stepping outside his usual practice of sticking to Russian in public.
And while his language skills are gaining attention, one of his top allies is simultaneously crushing hopes of a peace deal in Ukraine pushed by Donald Trump.
Though he typically relies on interpreters during press events, Putin has shown he can handle himself in more than just Russian.
A rare example came when he spoke English during Russia’s bid to host the 2020 World Expo in Yekaterinburg. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously confirmed that Putin “understands English completely” and is even known to correct his translators.
When asked why he doesn’t use English more often in diplomacy, Putin once said: “In Russian, thank God, I get by in German and I can express myself more or less in English.”
Despite this, Putin generally prefers his native tongue, likely to ensure clarity during high-stakes discussions. A mistranslation during a world summit isn’t exactly a scenario anyone wants to gamble on.
As the world zeroes in on Putin’s language skills, back home his top ally Dmitry Medvedev has taken a sledgehammer to Donald Trump’s proposed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, dismissed the idea of a compromise during talks held in Turkey, claiming instead that Russia is pushing for a total win.
“The Istanbul talks are not for striking a compromise peace on someone else’s delusional terms but for ensuring our swift victory and the complete destruction of the neo-Nazi regime,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram. “That’s what the Russian Memorandum published yesterday is about.”
Despite agreeing on a prisoner-of-war swap and the exchange of 12,000 dead soldiers during Monday’s one-hour meeting, the two sides failed to agree on a 30-day ceasefire Ukraine had already accepted.
Medvedev also appeared to threaten Ukraine following a string of drone strikes: “Retribution is inevitable. Our Army is pushing forward and will continue to advance. Everything that needs to be blown up will be blown up and those who must be eliminated will be.”
Trump, who’s been banking on ending the war as a key campaign promise, now faces major obstacles—starting with the fact that Russia’s definition of “peace” may not involve peace at all.
