Zürcher Nachrichten - Hoping for peace: Italian craftsman claims Putin's table

EUR -
AED 4.176264
AFN 79.390778
ALL 98.193331
AMD 435.359105
ANG 2.034873
AOA 1043.206027
ARS 1289.7675
AUD 1.750315
AWG 2.048029
AZN 1.937421
BAM 1.956066
BBD 2.291911
BDT 138.25877
BGN 1.95741
BHD 0.428558
BIF 3378.258635
BMD 1.137004
BND 1.460198
BOB 7.844065
BRL 6.420327
BSD 1.135154
BTN 96.761136
BWP 15.237069
BYN 3.714804
BYR 22285.28547
BZD 2.28011
CAD 1.561847
CDF 3257.517905
CHF 0.934014
CLF 0.027894
CLP 1070.435323
CNY 8.191325
CNH 8.155272
COP 4741.443703
CRC 577.378385
CUC 1.137004
CUP 30.130616
CVE 110.279972
CZK 24.862424
DJF 202.137442
DKK 7.464552
DOP 67.039101
DZD 150.321408
EGP 56.7187
ERN 17.055065
ETB 153.667162
FJD 2.560311
FKP 0.846948
GBP 0.840017
GEL 3.115836
GGP 0.846948
GHS 12.542703
GIP 0.846948
GMD 81.864718
GNF 9833.334982
GTQ 8.713183
GYD 237.482241
HKD 8.906212
HNL 29.547011
HRK 7.538002
HTG 148.530165
HUF 403.94398
IDR 18472.057095
ILS 4.106035
IMP 0.846948
INR 96.806883
IQD 1487.001877
IRR 47896.309096
ISK 145.150415
JEP 0.846948
JMD 180.384489
JOD 0.806181
JPY 162.097072
KES 146.699916
KGS 99.431468
KHR 4543.616845
KMF 494.032708
KPW 1023.258258
KRW 1552.841401
KWD 0.348504
KYD 0.945928
KZT 580.568819
LAK 24524.329445
LBP 101705.707657
LKR 339.836136
LRD 227.020821
LSL 20.317958
LTL 3.357279
LVL 0.687763
LYD 6.201842
MAD 10.434117
MDL 19.682672
MGA 5075.68908
MKD 61.538355
MMK 2387.267736
MNT 4064.582023
MOP 9.154843
MRU 45.143129
MUR 51.9729
MVR 17.578517
MWK 1968.267214
MXN 21.880062
MYR 4.81071
MZN 72.666378
NAD 20.317958
NGN 1807.613767
NIO 41.775672
NOK 11.490912
NPR 154.818018
NZD 1.899598
OMR 0.437609
PAB 1.135154
PEN 4.153064
PGK 4.653632
PHP 62.956357
PKR 319.939835
PLN 4.25999
PYG 9056.229482
QAR 4.137262
RON 5.055353
RSD 117.235916
RUB 90.212247
RWF 1626.02075
SAR 4.264548
SBD 9.494859
SCR 16.27821
SDG 682.775298
SEK 10.838385
SGD 1.46367
SHP 0.893507
SLE 25.833161
SLL 23842.413185
SOS 648.688066
SRD 42.270984
STD 23533.694664
SVC 9.932348
SYP 14782.417917
SZL 20.312758
THB 36.956096
TJS 11.63488
TMT 3.9852
TND 3.392961
TOP 2.662982
TRY 44.176603
TTD 7.716048
TWD 34.07864
TZS 3061.915688
UAH 47.117797
UGX 4143.562534
USD 1.137004
UYU 47.156402
UZS 14647.988624
VES 107.840913
VND 29509.811178
VUV 137.766044
WST 3.14678
XAF 656.046065
XAG 0.03395
XAU 0.000339
XCD 3.072812
XDR 0.815911
XOF 656.046065
XPF 119.331742
YER 277.258926
ZAR 20.288547
ZMK 10234.40773
ZMW 31.045215
ZWL 366.11494
  • BCC

    -0.7700

    86.56

    -0.89%

  • CMSD

    0.1600

    21.89

    +0.73%

  • JRI

    0.0500

    12.69

    +0.39%

  • SCS

    -0.0600

    10.09

    -0.59%

  • GSK

    -0.2600

    38.66

    -0.67%

  • NGG

    1.1600

    74.79

    +1.55%

  • BCE

    0.0600

    21.53

    +0.28%

  • RIO

    0.4600

    61.58

    +0.75%

  • AZN

    0.4600

    70.41

    +0.65%

  • CMSC

    -0.0200

    21.94

    -0.09%

  • RELX

    0.4600

    55.44

    +0.83%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    10.47

    -0.67%

  • RBGPF

    65.0500

    65.05

    +100%

  • RYCEF

    0.1200

    11.32

    +1.06%

  • BTI

    0.6200

    45.22

    +1.37%

  • BP

    0.1500

    29.09

    +0.52%

Hoping for peace: Italian craftsman claims Putin's table
Hoping for peace: Italian craftsman claims Putin's table

Hoping for peace: Italian craftsman claims Putin's table

Russian leader Vladimir Putin's oversized table has become an unlikely star of diplomatic efforts to ease the Ukraine crisis, and a source of pride for the small Italian firm that claims to have made it and hopes it will help peace efforts.

Text size:

"A table is a place where people eat, play, but also where they decide wars or sign armistices," Renato Pologna, head of OAK furniture, told AFP at the company's offices in Cantu, northern Italy.

"My hope is that this table brings good luck, and doesn't bring an escalation of conflict."

The six-metre- (20-foot) long white beech table adorned with gold leaves was the setting for Putin's meetings over the past week with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and subsequently German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Officially used as part of coronavirus protocol, to keep some distance between the Russian leader and his guests, it has been subject to intense debate and mockery.

It has launched a slew of internet memes, showing the table as a skating rink, or as the scene of the Last Supper.

The table was "a unique piece" made to order and delivered to the Kremlin in 1995 as part of "the biggest order we have ever had", Pologna said.

The cost? "It was in (Italian) lira back then... the value of a table like that today would be around 100,000 euros," he said, adding that the total order was worth "more than 20 million euros".

- Yeltsin's signed certificate -

Pologna's firm is not the only one to claim the table. In Spain, retired cabinet maker Vicente Zaragoza says he delivered the table to the Kremlin around 2005.

"It's a table made of beech from the Alps," Zaragoza told Spanish radio Cope, saying he immediately recognised it from television images.

Back at the Italian factory near Lake Como, Pologna brings out several documents he says are ample evidence of his own company's role.

There is a photo of the table reproduced in a 1999 book on the Kremlin, a framed certificate signed November 22, 1996, by then-Russian president Boris Yeltsin -- and detailed sketches of the piece.

"I am 100 percent sure of what I say," the 63-year-old Italian said.

Anxious to avoid controversy, however, he added: "I imagine that, as they say in Spain that they made a similar table, that a replica was made, but I don't know."

- Waiting for Clooney -

OAK was founded by Pologna's father in the 1950s and today employs around 50 people, making classical and contemporary wares to order.

The showroom displays a mix of furniture with sleek modern finishes, and gold-rimmed dining chairs set under glistening chandeliers.

Putin's table, located in a Kremlin reception room, was part of an order to furnish and decorate around 7,000 square metres (75,000 square feet) across two floors, according to Pologna.

"In other countries, they love the design and quality of top Italian craftsmanship," he said, saying his company made furniture, floors, woodwork and marble finishes for the walls of the Kremlin's living rooms.

Many of OAK's clients are from the Middle East, and former dictators Moamer Kadhafi of Libya and Iraq's Saddam Hussein are among those who have been drawn to its wares.

The company's location near Lake Como helps with business, Pologna noted, being home to "many important clients -- Americans, Russians, Indians and Chinese who buy beautiful villas".

Among those who spends time near here is Hollywood star George Clooney, but he has not yet come knocking.

"With all the noise this table has made, it would be a good idea to put it back into production!" said Pologna.

A.P.Huber--NZN