[Pick] Putin insists on maintaining 5m distance, 'close to the crew'

▲ Russian President Putin poses for a commemorative photo with the flight attendants of the state-owned airline Aeroflot on the 5th local time.

(Photo=sputnik)

A commemorative photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been criticized around the world for his invasion of Ukraine, is controversial.

It was President Putin, who did not shake hands with foreign leaders who visited Russia for the reason of Corona 19, but was sitting with a long table in between and keeping distance.

According to major foreign media such as the BBC on the 5th local time, President Putin visited the Aeroflot Aviation Training Center, the state-owned airline near Moscow, to commemorate International Women's Day on the 8th, held a meeting with the female flight attendants and took a commemorative photo.

Putin celebrated Women's Day by handing the prepared bouquets directly to the flight attendants.

Putin and his crew took a commemorative photo standing side by side.

In another photo taken at the event, President Putin is sitting around a long table with several flight attendants, having a conversation with refreshments without keeping distance.

These photos were immediately controversial.

This is because President Putin did not shake hands at the recent summit meeting in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and kept a distance.

At the meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Moscow on the 7th of last month, he sat with a 5m long table in between, and on the 15th, he held a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, receiving international ridicule.

At that time, when the photos of the meeting were released, there were even jokes saying "I can do curling".

Putin also maintained his distance during meetings with senior military officials after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on the 24th of last month.

Meanwhile, in a conversation with flight attendants on the same day, Putin insisted that Western sanctions on Russia were close to a declaration of war and warned that the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine's airspace "will be regarded as meddling in the war with Ukraine." I did.