She’s back. Amid conversations that seek to end the Ukrainian War, a piece of furniture that drew attention before the invasion carried out by Russia once again stood out at this Tuesday’s meeting (26) between the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and the president. Vladimir Putin: the “giant table”.
With about five meters and three adorned pillars, the furniture gained prominence at the meeting between the Russian and the now re-elected French president, Emmanuel Macron, in February. The reason was the visitor’s refusal to perform a PCR test for the detection of the coronavirus – the fear, at the time, was that his DNA would be cloned.
Almost three months later, it was Guterres’ turn to be received, which indicates that he also refused to take the exam. This time, no adornments occupied the center of the table, and the context is already quite different.
If before the objective was to reduce tensions to avoid a conflict, today the war, in its 62nd day, has already killed at least 2,345 civilians, according to an estimate by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights —but the organization notes that the number could be bigger. There is also the tension of the fighting going beyond the Ukrainian borders, provoking the Third World War.
The return of the table, however, brings comic relief, due to the distance that separated the participants.
After gaining the spotlight with Macron, there was even a dispute over his authorship. Renato Pologna, CEO of Italian furniture maker OAK, says the furniture was produced by his company in 1995.
According to him, the table was paid in lira, at a price that today corresponds to 100 thousand euros (R$ 580 thousand). The order for this and other furniture made by the Russian government, which at the time had Boris Yeltsin as its leader, reached 20 million euros. The Spanish Vicente Zaragoza, however, also claims to be the creator of the furniture.
Be that as it may, the furniture has already been the stage for different meetings in the Kremlin. This year, Prime Ministers Olaf Scholz, from Germany, and Viktor Orbán, from Hungary, as well as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, were also received there. Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro, in turn, spoke with Putin much more closely, as he did not refuse to be tested for Covid-19 during his visit to the country in February.
There are also earlier records of Putin receiving from chancellors to football players in the room with sumptuous chandeliers, bronze statues, floral carpet and long curtains — which have been changed since then.
In July 2018, the Russian president received athletes from his national team during the World Cup. The previous year, the table was the center of the meeting between Putin and executives from the Vienna-based oil and gas company OMV.
In 2017 and 2018, meetings were also recorded with former regional leaders, presidential candidates and political personalities, such as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, UN Secretary General António Guterres and the then Security Secretary. US National, John Bolton.
In meetings before the pandemic, however, the scene at the table was less lonely. The participants were face to face, but closer, and the table sometimes had 14 people around them.
