I’m wondering if Putin want one-on-one with Trump cause that is the only way he can manipulate him. I’m imagining a room with EU reps, Zelenskyy, Trump and Putin. The only one not speaking english would be Putin.

That combined with Trumps attention span and tendency to agree with whoever he spoke to last and could understand, would make it hard for Putin to tell him what to do.

If i had to speak to Trump, that would be my approach too.

Putin does understand English very well, though. He will speak only through an interpreter, but doesn’t need it for understanding what others say.

One reason he uses an interpreter is that while the interpreter is translating, he has extra time for formulating his answer, as he doesn’t need to actually listen to the interpreter.