 | |
| Designer | OAK Furniture |
|---|---|
| Date | c. 1996 |
| Made in | Cantu,Como,Lombardy,Italy |
| Materials | Beech wood |
| Width | 6 m (20 ft) |
| Collection | Kremlin |
Vladimir Putin's meeting table is a white-topped oval beech table that was installed in theKremlin in the late 1990s, during thepresidency ofBoris Yeltsin. It is reported that the table is 6 metres (20 feet) long, made from a single sheet ofbeech 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 byVladimir Putin in meetings with world leaders.
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 fromCantù, Italy, claimed to have made 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, includingMuammar Gaddafi,Saddam Hussein, and royal palaces inBrunei andThailand.[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 theRussian Revolution, soviet leaderJoseph Stalin removed much of the previous furniture in the rooms. The company maintains that the tabletop is made of a single piece ofbeech, and that it islacquered white; it has three hollow legs, and isgold 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 preventbugging. 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 have made it during an interview with radio stationCOPE.[2] Zaragozá is owner of an eponymous furniture company located inAlcàsser,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 formerSoviet republics, such as for the presidency ofUzbekistan. According to Zaragozá, the table is made of Alpinewhite beech, inlaid withgold leaf, and was delivered to the Kremlin in 2005.[1]
In 2022, Russian presidentVladimir Putin has used the table in meetings with world leaders such asViktor Orbán,Emmanuel Macron,Olaf Scholz, andAntónio 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 numerousinternet 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 contractingCOVID-19.[4][9][10] Putin has been pictured attending meetings in close proximity withChinese Communist Party general secretaryXi Jinping andBelarusian presidentAlexander Lukashenko in the same period.[11]
Media related toVladimir Putin's meeting table at Wikimedia CommonsPart of theRusso-Ukrainian war (2022–present) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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