Macron kept at distance from Putin after refusing Covid test

Russia on Friday said French President Emmanuel Macron was made to sit at an enormously long table for his talks with Vladimir Putin because he refused to take a Kremlin-performed Covid test.

The leaders sat at opposite ends of an unusually long table in the Kremlin on Monday, when Macron came to Moscow with a mission to defuse fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The table drew much ridicule online, and raised more eyebrows when Putin sat at a tiny table with the Kazakh president, a close ally, three days later.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peksov said the decision to subject Macron to the huge table was taken after the French leader refused to take a Covid test performed by the Kremlin's medics.

"Talks with some are being held at a long table, the distance (across the table) is about six meters," Peskov said.

"It is linked to the fact that some follow their own rules, they don't cooperate with the host side," he said.

In such cases, he said, the Kremlin has to take "additional sanitary protocol on protecting the health of our president and his guests." He said the decision on who is subjected to the long table is not political, reports AFP.

"There is no politics here and this in no way interferes with negotiations," Peskov said.

He said that if medics from both sides of diplomatic meetings cooperate, then "Putin communicates with his guests directly, sitting very close and shaking hands."

A source in Macron's entourage told AFP that the French president "did everything as he had to as always when he travels."

Without going into full details, a French presidential official, who asked not to be named, confirmed that the issue has come about over the conditions of the PCR test demanded by the Russian side."