Ignoring, threatening and frightening banter .. How did Putin embarrass his opponents in the West?
In a position with great symbolic connotations, the Russian president sat his French guest at the head of a very long table, while he sat at the other far end, in a clip sarcastically circulated by the media, in which she spoke about the message that the Russian president wanted to deliver to Europe.
According to political experts and activists, the long distance between the two presidents at the “Russian table” symbolizes the size of the gap between Russia and Europe at present, especially in the Ukraine file.
Putin was not satisfied with sitting his guest at a far table where he could hardly hear the Russian President’s speech, but was preceded by a strange situation in the press conference that brought together the two presidents.
After the conference ended, Putin moved out of the room, letting Macron walk after him, 4 meters away.
The Putin-Macron incident is not the first of its kind. The Russian president has a “long history” of dragging world leaders when he meets them in Russia or abroad.
Trump’s temptation
During Putin’s meeting with former US President Donald Trump at the Osaka summit in Japan in 2019, Putin took with him a beautiful translator with long hair, a beautiful face, an attractive personality, and was wearing a short leather suit, which prompted experts to analyze the movement as intended to tempt and distract Trump.
Writer Mark Nixon commented to a report in the French magazine Le Point on this, saying: “No one knows whether the presence of this beautiful young woman had any effect on the mood of the American billionaire, who is known for his fascination with women.” However, the only certain thing, according to the writer, is that Trump seemed very happy During his face to face conversation with Putin.
Erdogan’s insult
In March 2020, Putin received Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a week after 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in an air strike in Idlib, northwest Syria.
Putin then made a symbolic move that angered Erdogan, as he kept him waiting for a long time, before asking him to sit under a golden watch, above its frame a bronze statue of Empress Catherine II, known for the conquest and capture of the Crimea, after a battle with the Ottoman Empire in 1783.
Hockey match and Lukashenko
Putin also insulted Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, whom Moscow regularly pressured to accept the integration of Belarus into the Russian Federation, which he has been reluctant to do.
Putin knows that Lukashenko has always been proud of being an experienced hockey player.
Putin decided at the time to hold a match for ice hockey, a sport that the Belarusian president mastered, but he appointed himself as the captain of the team, while Lukashenko put an ordinary player with the rest of the players, who are elements working in the Kremlin.
At the time, Putin scored 8 out of 16 goals in the “friendly” meeting.
The dog and Merkel
Among the most famous shots in which Putin embarrassed the leaders, the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Russian president’s dog.
In 2007, while Merkel was talking with Putin in Sochi about energy issues, Putin’s black dog “Connie” entered and began licking and sniffing her legs, causing stress to the chancellor, who has suffered from kenophobia since being bitten by a dog in 1995.
According to several sources, this upset Merkel, especially as she later said that she knows that Putin knows that she does not like dogs.
“I will crush you”
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy also experienced an unpleasant moment during his first meeting with Putin in June 2007, after which he appeared panting, his looks vague and his voice hoarse.
One observer attributed Sarkozy’s condition to Putin’s reprimanding Sarkozy after several remarks made by the latter about the human rights situation in Russia. Putin reportedly told Sarkozy, “If you continue with this tone, I will crush you.”
