Apparent piano virtuoso Vladimir Putin can't yet decide what song he'd play for President Trump: 'We'd need to meet him'

(Image credit: ALEKSEY NIKOLSKYI/AFP/Getty Images)

published 15 May 2017

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a man of many talents. When he's not scoring eight goals in a hockey game with retired NHL players or belting out the song "Blueberry Hill" before an audience that includes actors Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, he likes to play piano for heads of state.

Most recently, Putin puttered around Sunday on the piano at a Chinese state residence. Reuters reported he played "a few slightly hesitant chords of two popular Soviet-era compositions," but Putin claimed the piano put a damper on his musical talents. "It's a pity that the piano is out of tune," Putin said. "It was quite hard to play, even for me, someone who plays with two fingers. I cannot say I played, I was just pressing the keys with two or three fingers."

Putin's impromptu performance over the weekend prompted a pressing question at a news conference Monday: If he got the chance to perform for President Trump, what would he play? Putin didn't have a song picked out just yet. "I don't know, I think we'd need to meet him, have a discussion, and depending on the result choose a melody," Putin said.