Putin keeps his distance – during a speech to diplomats in the Kremlin. These react in their own way to the unusual interior design.
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the new ambassadors from the US and the EU to Moscow in a bizarre ceremony. The Kremlin boss, who has liked to stand next to allies and citizens in recent weeks, kept his distance.
Putin stood at one end of the room, the diplomats and their escorts and other personnel had to line up at the other end of the room. Allegedly, precautionary measures because of Corona were the reason. This is at least surprising, because shortly afterwards he was sitting at a table with members of his security staff – and on the same day he hugged the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, during his visit to Moscow.
But at the end of his speech there is an embarrassing scene for him, as video recordings show. Putin says the last words of his speech, then pauses, looks right, looks left, apparently expecting a handclasp – or at least some kind of reaction. But he was met with an iron silence from the 17 ambassadors present and their staff. The American Ambassador Lynne Tracy followed the speech with a fixed gaze. Finally, Putin says that for reasons of hygiene, the ceremony must now end and he cannot speak to the diplomats personally. Then he resigns.
Earlier, in his welcome speech, the West had been accused of a geopolitical confrontation with Russia. The EU staged this confrontation and left behind its mission of “developing economic cooperation and integration on the European continent,” Putin said.
