Putinversteher

The German word Putinversteher denotes a person who is seen to be on good terms with,  or even a supporter of, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin.  Due to the violent expansionist actions of Putin’s Russia and the Faustian pact that many countries have made to obtain energy supplies from Russia, the word has found its way into the news and political discourse of democratic nations and into the English language Wikipedia.

The German verb verstehen means to understand, and the noun Versteher means one who understands, and the word Putinversteher first came into use in German in 2014.  A Putinversteher is literally someone who “understands” Putin, though in practice it implies not simple comprehension but a pejorative element of co-operation, collaboration, or even complicity. Possible English terms might be Putin sympathiser, apologist, enabler, puppet, or pawn. It is precisely the difficulty of translating this accurately that makes use of the German term in English so attractive, especially when referring to those politicians who say Putin’s aggressive actions are “understandable”.