For those at the top, decor and furniture can be tools to impress, charm, and intimidate˳
The terrifying seat of power in Game of Thrones is a towering iron chair, forged from the melted swords of defeated enemies˳ In the James Bond series, villains are known for decorating their headquarters with shark aquariums˳
In real life, however, there is Vladimir Putin and his confusingly massive white table˳
Russia’s leader has started hosting one-on-one meetings with foreign dignitaries at a gargantuan oval table, roughly five metres long and held up by three thick pillars˳ A sole bouquet of flowers rests in the middle˳
He is not alone among world leaders when it comes to showy furnishings˳ North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has enough bookcases to rival a small library˳
And during the pandemic, China’s Xi Jinping has taken to hosting video calls in front of an imposing painting of the Great Wall of China˳
The former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi held meetings with other leaders in a large and colourful tent, perhaps as a ploy to win them over with hints of his humble Bedouin origins˳ Gaddafi travelled the world with his tent and pitched it in several cities, including at the Villa Doria Pamphili park in Rome and Donald Trump’s estate in suburban New York˳
The former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad also had an impressive office with an imposingly large desk, although that may have been for other reasons – he is said to have taken afternoon naps underneath it˳
But what is the message behind Putin’s table, if there is one?
On Monday, he hosted Emmanuel Macron at the three-legged colossus˳ The French president had flown to Moscow with a puffed chest, promising an “intense” talk with Putin, where he said he would seek a “historic solution” to the impending threat of war between Russia and Ukraine˳
Yet after five hours of talks at the white table, Macron failed to extract any public concessions from Putin˳ Speculation has risen that the table was a show of power to subdue Macron, perhaps even the physical expression of a snub˳ However, it is also possible the mega-table is not making a political statement at all, or if there is one, it is of secondary relevance to Putin’s primary aim: avoiding Covid˳
Earlier this month, Putin hosted the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, at the same table˳ At that time, the message Moscow sought to portray was of close and friendly ties between the two leaders, even if they were sitting shouting distance apart˳
A very similar table also appeared pre-pandemic but with several people sitting at it˳ Today, Putin is clearly using the table to socially distance from foreign leaders, as he does in press conferences afterwards where their podiums are kept unusually far apart˳
The 69-year-old president is notoriously paranoid about Covid-19 and has largely remained in an isolated cocoon throughout the pandemic, taking measures far beyond his global counterparts˳
The Kremlin continues to require those meeting with Putin to quarantine for two weeks despite claiming that the Russian leader has received his vaccinations and booster shot˳ The requirements can be disruptive˳ Before the opening of a major art centre in Moscow, the director and main financier were said to have quarantined for two weeks in order to give Putin a short tour of the building˳
There is one person Putin has got close to, despite his Covid concerns˳ At the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing this month, he and Xi Jinping stood for the cameras within hugging distance of each other, a symbol of their powerful alliance as tensions rise with the west˳
Still, for their sit-down meeting, Chinese officials had arranged for an extremely large dark wooden table to be in place – one even bigger than Putin’s˳
Additional reporting by Andrew Roth in Moscow
