Report: Macron refused Russian COVID test to keep Moscow from getting his DNA
French President Emmanuel Macron refused to take a Russian COVID-19 test during his trip to Moscow this week out of concern Russia would obtain his DNA, according to a story by Reuters.
The report, published Friday, cited two sources in the group that accompanied Macron to Russia.
Because of his refusal of the Kremlin’s request for a rapid COVID-19 test prior to his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the two leaders were seated at opposite ends of a 13-foot table.
A French source told the BBC that Macron’s staff balked at the test, saying it required a health protocol that was unacceptable and did not fit with the French leader’s schedule.
Russia gave Macron the choice of either undergoing a PCR test conducted by Russian authorities, or following social-distancing rules, according to the sources who talk to Reuters.
“We knew very well that meant no handshake and that long table,” one of the sources said. “But we could not accept that they get their hands on the president’s DNA.”
The other source said Macron took a PCR test in France and a rapid antigen test while in Russia that was administered by his personal doctor.
When Macron’s office was asked about concerns over DNA theft, a government spokesman said, “The president has doctors who define with him the rules that are acceptable or not in terms of his own health protocol.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Macron had declined the test and that it was not a problem but meant social distancing procedures that required a 20-foot distance from Putin would have to be followed.
“There is no politics in this, it does not interfere with negotiations in any way,” he said.
Macron and Putin met this week amid increasing fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
