THIS IS WHY THE MEETING OF PUTIN AND JINPING WENT WITHOUT A HANDSHAKE: A similar situation happened with Merkel, so it had to be resolved with FLOWERS

The meeting between the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the Chinese leader Xi Jinping was held without handshakes, because the Chinese side requested it due to the situation with COVID-19, the head of the protocol of the President of Russia Vladislav Kitaev told the television "Rossiya 1". 

- First of all, these meeting don't always entail handshakes. For example, when Ms. Merkel came in August last year, her protocol had the same request: no handshake. We solved the situation by giving her a bouquet of flowers. Of course, everything was agreed upon in advance. So now our Chinese colleagues have asked not to shake hands. We did not see anything criminal in that. And we agreed to it. The President knew that he should not hold out his hand to the President of China - said Kitaev, Sputnik reports. 

Foto: Tanjug/AP

He added that there were no political signals in this decision.

- It is an attempt to avoid danger, complications due to the Coronavirus - the head of protocol of the Russian President pointed out.

He added that Putin is positive about the requests of his colleagues to change the protocol at the meetings due to the Coronavirus.

Foto: www.profimedia.rs

- If a request comes from a colleague, he always meets their wishes - Kitaev said.

Therefore, sometimes state leaders allow hugs, and sometimes they talk across the table, Kitaev explained.