Olaf Scholz seated at giant conference table with Vladimir Putin amid Ukraine talks
BERLIN
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declined a Kremlin-administered coronavirus test during a visit Tuesday to Moscow, according to German media reports.
Scholz received a test from a German Embassy doctor after he arrived in the Russian capital, said the reports.
All members of the German delegation were required to take three PCR tests before departure.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Scholz for the first time since the chancellor assumed office to discuss the security situation in Europe and the events concerning Ukraine.
The move by Scholz came after a similar decision by French President Emmanuel Macron during talks last week in Russia, which prompted the Kremlin to place him at an enormously long table with Putin.
Scholz has become the latest European leader to be seated at distance from Putin at the Kremlin’s giant conference table.
Following a high-profile meeting Feb. 7 between Macron and Putin, a flurry of media reports in France centered on the setting, with the two leaders seated on opposite ends of a meters-long conference table.
After visuals surfaced of the meeting, which was held to quell rising tensions on the border between Ukraine and Russia, Macron told news outlet France24 that the large size of the table was part of protocols in place to curb coronavirus infection.
