Vladimir Putin ditched his comically oversized table for talks with Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in Moscow.
Just a day earlier, German chancellor Olaf Scholz sat miles away from the Russian leader.
It was an experience shared by another recent Kremlin caller, French president Emmanuel Macron.
They were both reportedly kept at arm’s length for their discussions on Ukraine because they declined a Russian Covid test.
It is not known if Mr Bolsonaro, seated at a comparatively tiny table a few feet from his host, took a test, but the vaccine sceptic is thought to have some immunity after catching and recovering from the virus.
If you missed the uproar around Putin and his big table, you won’t be surprised to hear the internet had a total field day with it.
‘Diplomacy in full swing’
Diplomacy in full swing – long tables are so last week…#UkraineInvasion #UkraineCrisis #Putin #Scholz pic.twitter.com/y1doyY7YqO
‘Mad Hatter’s Tea Party’
How Macron and Putin see it vs how the world sees it. pic.twitter.com/ZKwXOjXf3q
Your move, Mr Macron
pic.twitter.com/Ju2IbYa4b2
Speak up, Mr Macron
pic.twitter.com/x0NW6faWnF
Sean Walker has done God’s work
The best Putin massive table memes spotted on Twitter, a short thread: pic.twitter.com/KrfcIFuXdt
After Macron’s long-table talk, speculation was rife that Moscow was deliberately trying to send a message to the West.
Two French sources told Reuters that Mr Macron had been given a choice: either accept a PCR test done by the Russian authorities and be allowed to get close to Mr Putin, or refuse and have to abide by more stringent social distancing.
One of them said: ‘We knew very well that meant no handshake and that long table. But we could not accept they got their hands on the president’s DNA.’
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Mr Macron had declined the test, and that it meant the French president had to maintain a six-metre distance in order to safeguard Mr Putin’s health.
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