Could the mystery of the endless table on which Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine shared a discussion and a meal on Monday be resolved? The French president refused to submit to the local Covid-19 detection test and was therefore kept at a distance from his Russian counterpart, the Reuters agency reported on Thursday, relying on two sources close to Emmanuel Macron. The two heads of state discussed the Ukrainian crisis on Monday while being seated at the ends of a four-meter-long table for five hours. For some observers, this icy disposition could be interpreted as a diplomatic message. But the two Reuters sources, who had access to the health protocol imposed on the French president, assure that the latter knew that by refusing the Russian PCR test he was exposing himself to stricter distances. “We knew very well that meant no handshake and that long table. But we couldn’t allow them to get their hands on the President’s DNA.” Emmanuel Macron’s relative told Reuters. A half-confirmed version (and in any case not denied) by the Élysée at Chez Pol “The protocol conditions allowing an interview between the two Heads of State with less distance (contact with handshake and smaller table) imposed a health protocol which did not seem to us to be acceptable or compatible with the constraints of the agenda”, we say to the Castle, without further details on the question of the tests and the presidential DNA. Officially, the refusal to comply with a Russian levy would only be due to “calendar constraints”. And not to the desire to preserve the physical integrity of the Head of State, pure fantasy of the press, according to the presidential entourage: “For your complete understanding: PCR = sample. And so health protocol = done by whom? When ? How?… And so no, we weren’t afraid that the authorities would take advantage of this to put a hood over the President’s head, inject a chip into his neck and cut his nails…” It is true that a used glass, a stray hair from Macron is enough for the Russians to access Macron’s DNA, in a simpler way than a Covid test.
To go to Russia, the Head of State therefore carried out a PCR in France and an antigen on the spot thanks to his own doctor. “The Russians told us that Putin had to be kept in a strict sanitary bubble”, has also indicated the second source quoted by Reuters.
Three days after his meeting with Macron, the Russian leader received Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. On the program: handshakes and exchange side by side around a small coffee table, recalls the agency. The story does not say what test the latter agreed to submit to.
Updated Friday at noon with a reaction from the Elysée and a comment from the entourage of the Head of State.