The Russia-Ukraine conflict has many of us glued to our screens in anticipation of how things will end.
But along with the hard news, there’s been some antidotal headlines doing the rounds.
Earlier this week we reported on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s sex symbol status.
And now it appears Mzansi tweeps are very interested to know about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s penchant for long tables when conducting high profile meetings with his inner circle and visiting dignitaries.
What’s with President Vladimir Putin & Long Tables? pic.twitter.com/xOU3sGQDUD
— Man’s NOT Barry Roux (@AdvoBarryRoux) February 28, 2022
Popular Twitter handle @AdvoBarryRoux brought up this very question when asking “What’s with President Vladimir Putin & Long Tables?” accompanied by a series of pictures showing Putin seated at very long tables with his aides on the other end.
The post quickly gathered steam with online users coming up with plausible answers, and in true Mzansi style, the responses ranged from believable to downright funny.
“With this kind of table, you had to raise your voice no more come again or say that again,” suggested one user.
Lol 🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/Wnpwl8O0GT
— Money Maven (@MavohMannie) March 1, 2022
Another mentioned the fact that Putin has a black belt in karate, saying: “He is easily irritated and has a black belt in judo, imagine having a meeting and he disagrees and you are 1 metre away from him.”
I think it's a psychological effects, speaking out loud can easy expose one when lying, not sure or faking
— Mzwakhe Mphunga (@MzwakheMphunga) February 28, 2022
But our favourite response was: “It’s social distancing Covid-19 protocol.”
10m distance. This is now visitor quarantine.
So, apparently there is an official reason for Putin using a long table, and local tweeps may not have been too far off the mark.
Distractify reported that Putin’s favourite table seems to be about 6m long. According to Reuters, the Russian president will always be sitting at one far end of the table directly opposite the person he is conversing with.
“The Kremlin also confirmed to Reuters that the table ensures that Putin can be kept in a ‘strict health bubble’ and isolated from potentially contracting Covid-19 or other illnesses”, Distractify’s Chris Barilla said.