Vladimir Putin's meeting table

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Vladimir Putin's meeting table
Russian president Putin and French president Macron in 2022
DesignerOAK Furniture
Datec. 1996
Made inCantu, Como, Lombardy, Italy
MaterialsBeech wood
Width6 m (20 ft)
CollectionKremlin

Vladimir Putin's meeting table is a white-topped oval beech table that was installed in the Kremlin in the late 1990s, during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin. It is reported that the table is 6 metres (20 feet) long, made from a single sheet of beech wood, and supported on three hollowed wooden stands. It is lacquered white and is gold-plated on the side. While being ordered under Yeltsin's presidency, it has received attention by the world media for its usage by Vladimir Putin in meetings with world leaders.

Provenance

Creation of the table has been claimed by two groups: Italian manufacturer Oak Furniture, and Spanish Vincente Zaragozá.[1]

Oak Furniture, a family-owned business from Cantù, Italy, claimed to make the table, completing the order in 1995. This was as part of a €40-50 million deal to furnish 7,000 square feet (650 m2) over floors of the Kremlin between 1995 and 1997. Oak has also created fittings for other world leaders, including Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, and royal palaces in Brunei and Thailand.[2][3] The order comprised around seventy rooms, including the residence of the president. The furniture was designed in the style of the pre-1917 Kremlin: after the Russian Revolution, president Joseph Stalin removed much of the previous furniture in the rooms. The company maintains that the tabletop is made of a single piece of beech, and that it is lacquered white; it has three hollow legs, and is gold plated.[3] According to Renato Pologna of Oak, the furniture for the deal was assembled in Italy and transported to Russia by plane: upon arrival it was scanned to prevent bugging. Pologna estimated that a similar table would cost approximately €100,000 (equivalent to €105,436 in 2023) if built new in 2022.[3] Oak produced a certificate signed by Yeltsin, and a photo of the table in a 1999 book on the Kremlin to support their claim.[2]

Spanish cabinet maker Vicente Zaragozá claimed to make it during an interview with radio station COPE.[2] Zaragozá is owner of an eponymous furniture company located in Alcàsser, Valencian Community, which closed down in 2020. The business made several orders of furniture for the Kremlin in the years 2002-2006, as well as for other former Soviet republics, such as for the presidency of Uzbekistan. According to Zaragozá, the table is made Alpine white beech, inlaid with gold leaf, and was delivered to the Kremlin in 2005.[1]

Usage

Table in use by President Putin in 2000

In 2022, Russian president Vladimir Putin has used the table in meetings with world leaders such as Viktor Orbán, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, and António Guterres, among others.[4][5][6] Putin was pictured seated at one end of a very long white meeting table, with the other participants seated far away from him at the other end. Putin has also been pictured attending similarly distanced meetings with his own officials at other long tables.[7] The table became the subject of numerous internet memes.[8]

It has been speculated that Putin chooses to use the long table in an attempt to intimidate and to project an image of power, or for fear of contracting COVID-19.[4][9][10] Putin has been pictured attending meetings in close proximity with Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping and Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko in the same period.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Burgen, Stephen; Giuffrida, Angela (2022-02-17). "Table talk: Italian and Spanish firms vie to claim credit for Putin's furniture". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
  2. ^ a b c "Italian craftsman claims Putin's 'unique' oversized table". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  3. ^ a b c Balmer, Crispian (2022-02-15). "To Russia with love: vast Italian table in Kremlin turns heads". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-07-05.
  4. ^ a b "Putin's massive table: powerplay or paranoia?". The Guardian. 2022-02-08. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  5. ^ Saul, Derek. "Putin's Long Tables Explained: Why He Puts Some Leaders, Including Germany's Scholz, At An Extreme Distance". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  6. ^ "Putin breaks out the Kremlin's ridiculously long table to meet with the head of the UN". Business Insider. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  7. ^ "Photos: Putin keeps his distance during meetings". uk.news.yahoo.com. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  8. ^ "Putin's White Table in Macron Talks Sparks Endless Memes". The Moscow Times. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  9. ^ "What Putin's very long table tells us about Russia's inner workings". NBC News. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  10. ^ "Thumbelina Politics: a Seat at Putin's Table". artreview.com. Retrieved 2022-04-28.
  11. ^ "Xi and Putin urge Nato to rule out expansion as Ukraine tensions rise". The Guardian. 2022-02-04. Retrieved 2022-04-28.


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