- Vladimir
Putin met with fellow heads of state on Wednesday at a massive table in Turkmenistan. - It dwarfs the Kremlin's 13-foot-long table that Putin used to meet Macron and other leaders.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met with fellow heads of state on Wednesday at a massive table in Turkmenistan that dwarfed a comically long table at the Kremlin that previously captured global attention.
Meeting with the leaders of Turkmenistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, Putin sat far from other leaders at a massive rectangular table as they discussed cooperation in the Caspian Sea region, the Kremlin said.
According to the Turkmenistan government, the 6th Caspian Summit was held at the "luxurious Arkadag Hotel."
But before the meeting took place in what Turkmenistan's foreign affairs ministry referred to as the "Large Conference Hall," there was a more intimate meeting at the hotel's "Small Conference Hall."
It didn't take long for photos of the large rectangular table to make the rounds on social media.
Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukraine's internal affairs minister, tweeted a photo of the table underneath a significantly smaller table used by heads of state at this week's G7 summit in Germany.
—Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 29, 2022
Various journalists also tweeted their thoughts and made jokes about the table.
—max seddon (@maxseddon) June 30, 2022
—Alina Selyukh (@alinaselyukh) June 30, 2022
This isn't the first time Putin has sat at above-average-sized tables for meetings, but the one in Turkmenistan certainly dwarfs the others.
He previously met with French President Emmanuel Macron in February at a 13-foot-long table in Moscow, and the Kremlin broke out the same table for a meeting with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres a few months later.
Russian state media even broadcast Putin meeting with other world leaders at a "long but round" table in May — a step away from the long one.
The New York Times previously reported that Putin may be obsessed over his health and safety — especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.