Putin's ludicrously long table was an anti-COVID-19 measure to ensure 15ft between him and others, report says

• Vladimir Putin's long table was meant to protect him from COVID-19, The New York Times said.
• Putin's self-imposed isolation from others "deepened his radicalization," sources told the paper.

The infamous long tables at which Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted on taking his meetings was an unconventional anti-COVID-19 measure, The New York Times reported.

The table ensured that Putin was kept a regulation 15 feet away from most visitors, as he took stringent measures to avoid contracting the virus even after most of the world has relaxed its restrictions.

A guest who met with the Russian president in the summer of 2021 told the paper they spent three days in quarantine before meeting him at table distance.

He said a longer quarantine was required for getting up close.

The Times cited sources drawing a connection between Putin's physical isolation due to the pandemic and the way he launched his invasion of Ukraine, consulting few other people and surprising even his closest aides.

Putin took meetings with world leaders in the same manner, including French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poked fun at Putin's table during an interview with David Letterman that aired in December.

"He loves his life so much," Zelenskyy said. "He even chooses to sit at that ridiculously long table. He is afraid of catching COVID-19 or some other infection."

It was long speculated that the long table was a COVID precaution, and the Times reporting appears to confirm it.

According to The New York Times, earlier in the pandemic, Putin did not meet a single Western leader in person for 16 months.

He primarily met with people via video conference from an undisclosed location, and few aides were able to gain coveted in-person access to him.