The build-up to Monday’s meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin focused on how the two leaders might bridge a political gulf over the Ukraine crisis. Yet it was the physical distance between the leaders that dominated the online discourse after talks began.
Russia’s president sat his French counterpart more than 10ft away from him at the other end of a long, oval table in the Kremlin, generating mirth and memes on social media while commentators debated whether the seating arrangement was a Covid precaution or deliberate power play.
