Photo: REUTERS / copyright
The huge table that separated the presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron, when they met last Monday in the Kremlin took social networks by storm.
The images and memes of both leaders separated by that four meter long table probably generated more comments than the central theme of their meeting: the crisis at the border of the Ukraine.
The apparently excessive inn was not only the subject of ridicule, but also of thoughtful analysis by experts in non-verbal communication. Some of them pointed out that it was a diplomatic message that the Kremlin was sending to Macron.
But nevertheless , the real reason was different: the French president had refused to take a PCR test required by the Russian authorities as a precondition to be able to approach Putin, as confirmed by the Kremlin.
That protocol was unacceptable and did not fit with the activities that Macron had planned, French sources told the BBC.
In contrast, the president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, will have to undergo five tests of this type
if you want to get closer to Putin during his visit to Moscow scheduled for next week.
Variations on Putin-Macron meeting pic.twitter.com/22XLYuXDet
—Maria Snegovaya (@MSnegovaya) February 8, 2022
Details of Macron’s visit to the Kremlin emerged after reports circulated that the French president refused to undergo a PCR for fear that the Russians would obtain samples of his DNA.
The result was that both leaders held a meeting marked by strict social distancing measures: they did not shake hands or physically approach each other and remained separated by the huge inn.
French diplomatic sources told the Reuters agency that Macron had to choose between undergoing the Russian PCR to get closer to Putin or accept these distancing measures Social.
“We knew that meant there would be no handshake and that long table, but we couldn’t accept that they got ran the president’s DNA,” one of the sources told Reuters, though without explaining how Russia’s secret services could profit from Macron’s DNA.
Will Putin and Macron do face painting after? #Ukraine #pointless #lipservice pic.twitter.com/hi9agrWzmZ
— Tarquin (@Tarquin_Helmet) February 7, 2022
The Kremlin confirmed that Macron had been kept at a distance from Putin because he had declined to submit to the Russian test.
The Russian government spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that he understood France’s position and that it had not affected the talks.
Macron had undergone a PCR before leaving from France and his doctors gave him an antigen test once he arrived in Moscow, another French diplomatic source told Reuters.
“ The Russians told us that Putin needed to be kept in a strict health bubble,” this second source told Reuters.
Bolsonaro’s tests
Macron n or he is the only president to have been subjected to the Kremlin’s “long table” diplomacy. Earlier this year, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also had to keep a long distance from Putin during their respective visits to Moscow.
In view of the visit that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will make to Moscow next week, the Kremlin has also demanded that the president and his entire delegation undergo strict health checks.
According to the guidelines sent by the Kremlin to the Brazilian government, to which BBC News Brasil had access, Bolsonaro and those accompanying him will have to undergo up to five PCR tests.
One of these will take place between three and four hours before the meeting with Putin.
The BBC consulted the presidency and the Foreign Ministry from Brazil to find out if Bolsonaro will agree to submit to these Kremlin requirements, but none of these institutions confirmed it.
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