This is new; he hasn’t held meetings this way before (photo, left).
The media’s typical explanation is that so-and-so hasn’t been tested for Covid-19, or something like that (see, e.g., story here).
However, there are other possibilities. It’s well known that Putin is paranoid (see, e.g., story here), and that certainly could explain why he doesn’t want other people getting close to him — and not just because of Covid-19.
With Russia’s economy collapsing (see story here), even his oligarch friends aren’t happy with him (see story here) — and why would they be, their yachts and mansions are being seized, their bank accounts frozen, and their investments are collapsing — so even people he used to trust now may want to stick a fork in him (see story here). He reportedly moved his family into a Siberian bunker (see story here).
I don’t know which of these hypotheses are correct, or if any of them are. But one thing seems certain: Putin isn’t likely using long tables to make room for Christ and the Twelve Apostles at his own last supper.
