- French President Macron skipped a COVID-19 test when he met with Russian President Putin on Monday.
- Reuters reported on Thursday that there were concerns Russia would steal Macron's DNA from a test.
- Macron was told to keep his distance from Putin, so the two sat at opposite ends of a 13-foot-long table.
French President Emmanuel Macron skipped a COVID-19 test when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week due to concerns that Russia might try to steal his DNA, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing members of the French leader's entourage.
Russia gave Macron, who took a French COVID test before heading to the meeting and had his doctor do an antigen test, two choices, either take a Russian COVID test or social distance from Putin, two sources with direct knowledge of Macron's health protocols said. Macron opted for the latter.
"We knew very well that meant no handshake and that long table," a source told Reuters. "But we could not accept that they get their hands on the president's DNA."
Macron was told to keep a distance from Putin after the he denied a Kremlin request to take a Russian-administered test, so the pair sat at opposite ends of a 13-foot-long table while they met on Monday to discuss Ukraine and NATO, the report said.
One of the sources that spoke with Reuters about the meeting said the Russians explained to the French side that "Putin needed to be kept in a strict health bubble."
Putin has been exceptionally cautious and protective of his health throughout the pandemic, with news reports in September 2020 suggesting the Russian leader lived in a "virus-free bubble" created by his security forces.
Among the precautions taken, Putin's palace in Novo-Ogaryovo was outfitted in June 2020 with a special disinfection tunnel that all visitors had to pass through in order to visit him. State news agency RIA Novosti said the tunnel sprayed a "fine water mist" of antibacterial solution over new arrivals.
Putin revealed the following summer that he had been vaccinated with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
But by November of last year, though, Putin said he had been experiencing "waning immunity" due to the time that had passed between does, Russian news agency TASS reported. Putin received a booster and reportedly took an experimental nasal COVID-19 vaccine.