The table separating the Russian and French presidents was huge on Monday, February 7. And the two leaders did not exchange handshakes or have physical contact. It’s that Emmanuel Macron did not want the test PCR demanded by the Russian authorities.
The French president refused to comply with a Russian test once morest Covid-19 before his meeting with President Putin on Monday February 7. The Kremlin confirmed the information on Friday February 11, explain the BBC, while a French source explains to the British media that “the test required a health protocol neither acceptable nor compatible with the constraints of the French leader’s agenda”. A clarification that came as some argued that Emmanuel Macron would have “refused the test PCR for fear that the Russians will get their hands on his ADN”.
Six meters of social distancing
“This long table that separated Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine”, like title ironically The weather, was therefore only intended to respect the sanitary distance. I have to say that “the images of the two presidents seated on either side of this six-meter-long white table sparked many comments, some seeing it as a sign of Vladimir Putin’s coldness towards Emmanuel Macron, whom he received Monday at the Kremlin ”, explains the Swiss daily.
The two Heads of State, who discussed for five hours to resolve the tensions around the crisis in Ukraine, therefore practiced a meeting respecting the rules of “social distancing”.
For the European media Politico, the Russian president managed to put a wedge in Western affairs, but obviously did not “mightn’t get near Emmanuel Macron’s nose”. The French leader “refused to be tested, for fear that his ADN not be stolen in the process”.
The day following the visit of the French Head of State, Vladimir “Putin received Kazakh President Kassym–Jomart Tokaev”, pick it up BBC. And there, “the two men shook hands and sat down around a small coffee table”.