Russian President Vladimir Putin kept a large distance between himself and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu due to coronavirus restrictions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has claimed late on Monday.
Russia’s president was spotted keeping a very pronounced gap between him and top members of the government during meetings earlier the same day.
Images released by the Kremlin press service showed Putin sitting at the head of a long table, with Lavrov positioned several meters away from him. During a subsequent meeting between Putin and Shoigu, the latter was sitting in the same visibly distant spot.
The unusually large separation between Putin and the ministers caught the eye of the Russian media, with outlets reaching out to Peskov for comment.