At the talks in Moscow, Witkoff was assigned a translator by Putin and the head of the SVR

 

During the recent talks between the special representative of the President of the United States, Steve Witkoff, and Vladimir Putin in Moscow, he was accompanied by a Russian translator. At the same time, Witkoff seemed to believe that this was an employee of the American embassy, as evidenced by the Kremlin video. According to an analysis by investigative journalist Hristo Grozev, this translator is Natalia Koshkina, second secretary of the linguistic department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Previously, she worked in the Russian mission to NATO and appeared in photographs with the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergei Naryshkin, and Putin.

Details. NBC was the first to notice that Witkoff was accompanied by a Russian translator. He provided a transcript of the video, which was released by the Kremlin during the last visit of the special representative of the US president to Moscow on April 25. 

The recording shows Witkoff shaking hands with Putin. Then they go to the table together, and a woman sits down next to Witkoff. "A translator?" asks Witkoff, to which the woman nods and, apparently, quietly says "yes." After that, the camera turns towards Putin and the presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, who are sitting next to him at the table. Off-camera, Witkoff can be heard asking, "From the embassy?" Which sounds like a quiet "Yes."

"It is obvious that there is no Russian embassy in Moscow (unless Witkoff thinks so), so the logical conclusion is that he was assured that it was sent or approved by the US Embassy," writes Grozev.

The woman's profile is only visible in the video, but Grozev was able to identify her using artificial intelligence-based facial recognition tools. According to the analysis of the journalist, we are talking about Natalia Koshkina. Grozev found a photo of her attending various high-profile events, including those attended by former President Dmitry Medvedev, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. In one of the photos, Koshkina stands behind the head of the SVR, Sergei Naryshkin. 

According to Grozev's analysis, from 2018 to 2020, Koshkina worked as the third secretary of the Russian mission to NATO in Brussels, and since 2020, Koshkina has been the second secretary of the linguistic department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. In addition, Koshkina is listed as an employee of RT.

According to the Agency's analysis, 33-year—old Koshkina is a native of Astrakhan. She graduated from Moscow State University in 2013. He has been working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since at least 2015, according to photos posted on the Internet. At the same time, she began appearing at international meetings of Russia's top officials. In 2015, she sat next to Sergey Lavrov during a conversation with US Secretary of State John Kerry. In 2016, she was filmed next to Dmitry Medvedev at the East Asian Summit.  

Koshkina had worked at other Putin meetings before, the Agency found. In September 2022, she attended the tree planting ceremony at the SCO summit. The same ceremony was attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, among others.

The context. Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told NBC that using a Kremlin translator was a "very bad idea" that put Witkoff "at a real disadvantage." "I speak Russian and listened to Kremlin and American translators at the same meeting, and the language is never the same," says McFaul.

In addition, the presence of an American translator guarantees a more accurate written account of the meeting for the rest of the White House team, McFaul said. "At the end of every meeting I attended, I questioned the interpreter to make sure that we heard everything correctly, so that the conversation was absolutely accurate. You can't do this using a Russian official," the ex-ambassador is convinced.

A Russian translator made it impossible for Witkoff to understand what the Russian negotiators were saying to each other during the negotiations, one Western official told NBC.