MOSCOW -- Russia says French President Emanuel Macron was made to sit at the opposite end of a long table for his talks earlier this week with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin due to his refusal to take a Kremlin-administered COVID-19 test.
Macron was in Moscow on February 7 amid Western efforts to deescalate tensions amid fears Russia is planning a further invasion of Ukraine amid a massive buildup of troops on Ukraine's borders.
The table drew much ridicule online, and raised more eyebrows when Putin sat at a tiny table with Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev, a close ally, three days later.
Vladimir Putin (right) and Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev chat on February 10.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on February 11 that the decision to subject Macron to the huge table was made after the French leader refused to take a coronavirus test performed by Kremlin medics.
Other visiting officials, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi have also been placed at a distance from Putin over COVID protocols.
"Talks with some are being held at a long table, the distance (across the table) is about 6 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 was not political.
"There are no politics here and this in no way interferes with negotiations," Peskov said.
A source in Macron's entourage told AFP that the French president "did everything as he had to as always when he travels."
A French presidential official, also quoted by AFP and who requested not to be named, confirmed that the issue had come about over the "conditions of the PCR test demanded by the Russian side."
The table's size was mocked on the French magazine Liberation's cover and turned into numerous memes on the Internet.