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Among the participants in the Kremlin talks that took place on Friday night was an interpreter who accompanied Donald Trump during his talks with Vladimir Putin at the summit in Alaska, according to analysis of «Agentstvo». In addition, official footage from the meeting showed a Russian Foreign Ministry employee who had previously translated for Witkoff under the guise of a US Embassy employee in Moscow, which later sparked a scandal.
Details. In the footage released by the Kremlin at night, Trump’s interpreter stands behind the members of the American delegation as they greet Putin. After shaking hands with the president, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner approaches the interpreter while the other participants in the talks walk to the table.
- ️The same man has repeatedly appeared in footage of events with Donald Trump, according to analysis of «Agentstvo». For example, in November 2025, he was at a meeting between the US president and Uzbekistan’s leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev. And in August 2025, he participated in a telephone conversation between Trump and Putin. The same man translated for Trump during his meeting with Putin in Anchorage.
- ️Trump’s interpreter is named Evgeny Sokol, according to Russian databases studied by «Agentstvo». He has US citizenship; there is no information about a Russian passport in the leaks. The only Russian address that appeared in the leaks is an hotel in Moscow. His email is registered on the NASA domain: he has repeatedly appeared in photos from joint events between the US space agency and Roscosmos (1,2,3).
- Putin’s interpreter, who was present at the meeting in the Kremlin, also participated in the negotiations in Alaska. He is Alexei Sadykov, an employee of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who also interpreted for the Russian president during his meeting with Trump in Helsinki in 2018.
- ️Another person visible in the footage from the Kremlin is Natalya Koshkina, second secretary of the linguistic department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. She had already worked as an interpreter during the negotiations between US Special Representative Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin in Moscow in May 2025. The Kremlin footage shows Witkoff asking her before the start of the talks with Putin, «Translator?» The woman nods and, apparently, quietly says «yes.» Witkoff then asks, «From the embassy?» to which she responds with what sounds like a quiet «yes.» «There is no Russian embassy in Moscow (unless Witkoff thinks there is), so the logical conclusion is that he was assured that she was sent or approved by the US embassy,» wrote investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, who identified the interpreter from the video.
- ️Koshkina previously worked at the Russian mission to NATO and appeared in photographs with Foreign Intelligence Service chief Sergei Naryshkin and Putin. More about her here.
- ️After this scandal, American translator Tatiana Albert flew to Moscow with Witkoff, as previously reported by «Agentstvo». In 1984, she graduated from Herzen State Pedagogical University with a degree in English and French, and in 1991, she received her PhD in foreign languages from the same university. In 2015, she earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in international business from Liberty University in Virginia, and had been working with the State Department since at least 2017. Albert’s name appeared on an open letter from Ukrainian and Russian translators condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Context. The talks in the Kremlin took place on Friday night. On the American side, they were attended by Witkoff, Kushner, and Josh Greenbaum, Commissioner of the Federal Procurement Service of the US General Services Administration; on the Russian side, by Putin, Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, and his Special Representative Kirill Dmitriev.
- ️The talks resulted in Putin agreeing to the first trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US. They are scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
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