Russian President Vladimir Putin received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Moscow on February 15. The meeting was broadcast by Russian media.

Apparently, during the meeting, the two leaders sat at the same or identical long table where Putin had previously met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

"Today we will devote much of our time to discussing the security situation in Europe and the discussions that have now unfolded so sharply on this issue, including in connection with the events around Ukraine," Putin said at the start of the talks.

The Russian president also recalled: "Just recently I hosted my French colleague here, and we also discussed all these topics with him.

For his part, Scholz was not very vocal. He said: "It is very important that relations between the states are solved through dialogue.

As a reminder, earlier, during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 11, French President Emmanuel Macron was kept at a distance behind a long table because he refused the Kremlin's request to test for COVID-19.