US President's special representative Steve Witkoff recently expressed satisfaction with the interpreter's work during his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. He called Putin's simultaneous interpreter Aleksey Sadykov a skilled phenomenon who masterfully handles difficult tasks.
The names of Putin's personal interpreters are very rarely mentioned in the media. They are almost completely kept away from giving interviews to the media.
This is not without reason. After all, interpreters are considered diplomats who play an important role behind the scenes of international politics. Without interpreters, effective and productive dialogue between leaders would be impossible.
Putin's interpreters translate not only political negotiations but sometimes also closed meetings, emergency calls, and even emotional speeches. This means that the head of state's nervousness, irony, threats, or humor are also conveyed to the other side through their voice.
Interpreters participating in the most confidential negotiations with the President are sometimes also called “bearers of secrets”.
Usually, presidents are accompanied by either simultaneous (translating at the same time) or consecutive (translating after the speech) interpreters. Both tasks require high language proficiency, diplomatic terminology, international law and protocol rules, as well as psychological resilience.
Modern.az website, taking into account Steve Witkoff's praise, has attempted to investigate Putin's interpreters – especially Aleksey Sadykov.
All of President Putin's interpreters are diplomats from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to open sources in Russia, Vladimir Putin works with only five or six interpreters. The most famous among them are Aleksey Sadykov, Natalya Krasavina, and Sergey Chudinov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin knows two foreign languages in addition to his native language: German and English.
The Russian leader has a good command of German. After all, he once served for a period in East Germany as a “KGB” officer.
According to reports, Putin also learned English after becoming president. However, it is noted that the Russian leader knows this language at a conversational level, not at a high level. Putin very rarely speaks English in public. During diplomatic meetings, he generally does not use English, speaking only in Russian.
On August 15, 2025, during the historic meeting between Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, one detail did not go unnoticed. The presidents met hand-in-hand on the red carpet at the airport and had a brief standing conversation. During this conversation, there was no interpreter present with the leaders. At that time, the presidents, engaging in dialogue without an interpreter, spoke in English.
Russian media writes that Putin once had to act as an interpreter during a meeting with Germans. When the technical system failed during a meeting with German business representatives, the interpreters were not heard, and Putin took on their role, speaking directly to the guests in German.
Observers say that the work of interpreters working with Putin is very difficult. When interpreting, they must accurately convey the intonation and mood of every message from the Russian leader in their expressions.
Putin has repeatedly criticized interpreters. This has been related to the translation of difficult expressions he used.
For example, Putin's interpreter Natalya Krasavina cited the President's expressions "we cannot stand with our legs wide open" or "Donbas is not driving an empty car" in one of her speeches.
Such expressions are difficult to adapt even in written translation, and translating them correctly simultaneously truly requires great skill.
The President's speech must not be altered. During a meeting with the Egyptian leader, Putin answered the question "How are you?" with "Excellent." When the interpreter translated this answer as "Everything is fine," it drew criticism from Vladimir Vladimirovich. For Putin, subtleties and nuances in translation are very important.
The President's interpreters claim that the only problem is complex vocabulary and figurative speech. Otherwise, Vladimir Vladimirovich creates excellent working conditions: he speaks clearly and fluently, and allows pauses for translation so that words are easy to understand.
However, no one can be 100% flawless, including interpreters. President Putin's interpreters often work at a very high pace; they have to “chase” after the words of the head of state and high-ranking guests, and analyze complex vocabulary and accents.
Political experts say that working as Putin's interpreter means living under constant stress, and it is very important to understand this.
The head of state's interpreters are granted security clearance for access to state secrets, which means they are constantly under pressure and restrictions.
There is no publicly available information regarding the salaries of the President's permanent interpreters – employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – as this information is confidential.
The simultaneous interpreter Aleksey Sadykov, mentioned above, has repeatedly accompanied the Russian president during important negotiations.
He was an interpreter at the first meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki in 2018.
A. Sadykov also participated as Russia's interpreter at the Trump-Putin meeting held in Alaska on August 15, 2025.
A. Sadykov also provided interpretation services to Putin in 2015 for John Kerry (then US Secretary of State) and at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Aleksey Sadykov stated in an interview with the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" program on "Rossiya 1" television channel that the Russian president carefully monitors the translation of his speech and may need to clarify the foreign language version of his words at any time.
Aleksey Sadykov works as an advisor in the Language Support Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Sadykov, he once accidentally became confused and made a minor translation error due to fatigue... And this error did not escape Putin's attention; the President became angry: "He [Putin] turned to me and sternly said: "Listen to me carefully!"”.
A. Sadykov added that some conversations are classified as "top secret," which is why interpreters do not share the content of every discussion even with their closest friends.
Putin's other interpreter, Natalya Krasavina, Third Secretary of the Language Support Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noted that translating presidential conversations "can be compared to medical confidentiality."
"Our profession largely depends on confidentiality, our ability to protect and respect it," Krasavina said.
There is no open information in Russian sources regarding the nationality, date of birth, or family of Putin's favorite interpreter, Aleksey Sadykov.
What is known is that he studied at the Faculty of Humanities and Applied Sciences of Moscow State Linguistic University (MSLU) from 2003 to 2008.
Aleksey Sadykov later successfully completed an additional retraining program at the Institute of Continuing Education, acquiring the specialization of an interpreter.
Sadykov also completed a specialist course in simultaneous interpretation at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation in 2009-2010.
Aleksey currently works as a chief advisor in the Language Support Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also speaks as a guest lecturer at events of the Moscow State Linguistic University and conducts master classes for students of the UN Interpreter Course.
The skill and professionalism of Aleksey Sergeyevich Sadykov have been noted repeatedly.
He is also an associate professor at the Department of Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
“We are proud that such prominent specialists as Aleksey Sadykov, who contribute not only to education but also to world history, work in our department,” stated the Department of Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication of the Financial University in its statement regarding him.
A. Gafarli
