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Kremlin spokesman confirms Macron refused to take PCR test before talks

At the same time, Peskov did not specify whether Moscow provides foreign counterparts with similar data on President Putin’s PCR test

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Sergei Bobylev/TASS

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that French President Emmanuel Macron refused to take a PCR test for COVID-19 from Russian medics before talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on February 7.

"Yes, indeed," the Kremlin press secretary said in response to a related question from TASS.

At the same time, Peskov did not specify whether Moscow provides foreign counterparts with similar data on President Putin’s PCR test. "Here I don’t want to go into further details. Let's leave some things private," he replied.

The spokesman dodged a question about whether the Kremlin would have been satisfied if Macron had taken the test from French doctors rather than Russian ones. "I wouldn't like to go into further details, I can't go any further," Peskov said.

The Kremlin spokesman stressed that "different formats of interaction between those who ensure the epidemiological security of both our president and our guests are possible."

PCR test and the Putin-Macron dialogue

Reuters quoted sources as saying that Macron was separated by a long table at the Kremlin-hosted talks with Putin after he refused to submit to a PCR test in Russia. One of the French president's entourage explained to the agency that Paris "knew very well that it [the refusal to take a PCR test] would mean no handshakes and that long table, but could not accept the fact that they would get their hands on the president's (Macron's - TASS) DNA."

The French leader visited Moscow on February 7 to meet with Putin, their conversation lasted more than five hours. The next day, the French president headed to Kiev for talks with the Ukrainian leadership.

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