Macron refused Russian COVID test during Putin's visit citing concerns about DNA theft
Key takeaways:
- The visiting French president was managed to keep at arm's length from Russian President Vladimir Putin during lengthy talks on the Ukraine crisis in Moscow.
- Putin met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev three days after Macron and Putin's socially distant meeting.
When French President Emmanuel Macron showed up in Russia this week to meet with President Vladimir Putin, he refused a request from the Kremlin to take a Russian COVID-19 test to prevent Russia from obtaining Macron's DNA, according to two sources in Macron's entourage.
As a result, during lengthy talks on the Ukraine crisis in Moscow, the visiting French president was kept at arm's length from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They were photographed for such a long time at opposite ends of a table that it sparked satirical commentary on social media and speculation, including among diplomats, that Putin was sending a message.
However, two sources familiar with Macron's health protocol told Reuters that he was given a choice: accept a PCR test conducted by Russian authorities and be allowed to approach Putin, or refuse and be subjected to more stringent social distancing.
"We were well aware that this meant no handshake and a lengthy table. However, we could not accept that they had obtained the president's DNA. "Reuters quoted one of the sources saying that if Russian doctors tested the French president, security concerns would arise.
Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, affirmed Macron's test refusal and said Russia had no objections. Still, it meant keeping a 6-meter (20-foot) distance from Putin in arrange to protect the Kremlin leader's health.
"This contains nothing to do with politics, and it has nothing to do with negotiations," he said.
Macron instead took a French PCR test before leaving, and an antigen test was done by his doctor once in Russia, according to the second source in Macron's entourage.
The second source said, "The Russians advised us Putin needed to be kept in a strict health bubble."
According to Macron's office, the Russian health protocol "didn't seem to us to be either appropriate or compatible with our diary constraints," referring to the amount of time it would have taken to wait for the results.
"The president has doctors who identify with him the laws that are acceptable or not in terms of his health protocol," Macron's office said when asked specifically about DNA theft.
Three days after Macron and Putin's socially distanced meeting, Putin met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The two gentlemen exchanged handshakes and sat close together, separated only by a small coffee table.