A new wrinkle in negotiations between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin involves translation difficulties, which the U.S. president blamed on an interpreter.
US President Donald Trump unexpectedly raised the issue of translation at international talks and effectively acknowledged that, in meetings with world leaders, the meaning of his words might have been distorted. His remarks sparked a stir because, judging by the context, he was referring to talks with Putin, writes the news outlet Agentsvo.
At the “Shield of America” summit in Florida, Trump told participants about a situation that occurred during negotiations with “a very influential person from another part of the world.”
According to the US president, he noticed the translation sounded significantly shorter than his original remarks. That raised suspicions for him.
“When you deliver a long, flowing sentence and the interpreter renders it in a quarter of the time, you start to think something’s off,” Trump said.
He added that such translation can sometimes create the impression that a meeting went well, even though the substance of the conversation may have been conveyed differently.
Almost immediately after those remarks, Trump mentioned Putin, prompting observers to link his account to negotiations with the Russian leader. The US president also said that in one instance the interpreter allegedly even changed the meaning of what was said because she “disagreed” with the substance of the conversation.
“So what now - should we consider her the foreign minister?” Trump said wryly.
Trump’s statement raises an important question: could the US president have been receiving a distorted picture of talks with the Kremlin? Moscow has long been known for employing complex diplomatic and information maneuvers. If the translation was indeed inaccurate or controlled by the Russian side, it could have affected perceptions of the negotiations and the Kremlin’s true intentions regarding Ukraine.
