PARIS, France
France’s President, Emmanuel Macron, flew to Russia as part of fronting negotiating with Russians to leave war option on Ukraine and settle their grievances in a peaceful manner.
Table separating Macron and Putin was so long due to Macron's reported fears over Russian spying via PCR test
However, as a requirement President Macron was
supposed to take a covid-19 test before meeting President Vladimir Putin but
Macron rejected being subjected to the test and was therefore kept at a
distance from the Russian leader.
Sources, who have knowledge of the French
president’s health protocol, told media that Macron had been given a choice:
either he accepted a PCR test done by the Russian authorities and was allowed
to get close to Putin, or he refused and had to abide by more stringent social
distancing.
“We knew very well that meant no handshake and that
long table. But we could not accept that they get their hands on the
president’s DNA,” one of the sources told media, referring to security concerns
if the French leader was tested by Russian doctors.
Russia’s leader brought in a five-metre table and
held up by three thick pillars for one-on-one meeting with President Macron.
After five hours of talks at the white table,
Macron failed to extract any public concessions from Putin. Speculation has
risen that the table was a show of power to subdue Macron, perhaps even the
physical expression of a snub.
The source said Macron instead took a French PCR
test before departure and an antigen test done by his own doctor once in
Russia.
“The Russians told us Putin needed to be kept in a
strict health bubble,” another source said.
On Thursday, three days after Macron and Putin had
their socially distanced meeting, the Russian leader received Kazakh president
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The two men shook hands, and sat close to each other,
divided only by a small coffee table.
The Kremlin continues to require those meeting with
Putin to quarantine for two weeks despite claiming that the Russian leader has
received his vaccinations and booster shot.
There is one person Putin has got close to, despite
his Covid concerns. At the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing this
month, he and Xi Jinping stood for the cameras within hugging distance of each
other, a symbol of their powerful alliance as tensions rise with the west.
No comments:
Post a Comment