One recent newspaper columnist in Moscow joked that Putin’s choice of positioning himself at the very end of a very long table not just when meeting foreign statesmen but also his foreign and defence ministers, though not the president of Byelorus, will become a new subject in Kremlinology.

But today at the Security Council, it was gone. Instead Putin sat at a chair in front of a little desk which was positioned at an even greater distance from his interlocutors, at least twice the length of the table. But what does that mean? He is certainly out of touch.

It reminds me of my meeting with Alexander Yakovlev, Gorbachev’s former adviser, who at close quarters had what amounted to a high chair at the end of the table.

Vedomosti, 21 February 2022:

Что члены Совета безопасности говорили о признании ДНР и ЛНР

Многие высказались в поддержку этого шага

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