The photo of Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky sitting in front of each other in the Vatican was the image that most made news of the funeral of Pope Francis. Two chairs and two men who speak face to face of the fate of the war in Ukraine. But in reality it seems that the meeting was originally destined to have a different aspect. The filming of the two leaders who approach the red chairs show that, initially, three chairs had been placed together, before one was hastily removed just as the two sat.
The meeting
According to many, the facilitators of the face to face would have been the British premier Keir Starmer and the French president Emmanuel Macron. At first, by the United Kingdom, no formal meeting had been organized, and Starmer had done pressure nor did he expect a interview face to you.
According to some present, the British premier was walking in the Basilica of San Pietro with Prince William, when they crossed Trump and Zelensky. At that point, Prince William had the common sense of moving away, to allow the heads of state to speak in private.
Then separating from the group, Trump, in blue dress, and Zelensky, in top and black pants, headed towards a corner of the church where the Vatican officials had hastily placed not two, but three chairs.
It was then that Macron approached and forcefully squeezed Zelensky’s hand, just touching Trump’s arm, without however clinging his hand. The two presidents exchanged a few words, then the third chair was removed to leave Trump and Zelensky alone to confront each other.
The mystery of the chair
It is not clear if the chair had been designed to Starmer, for Macron or maybe for an interpreter, even if Zelensky speaks a good English. According to the British tabloid The Sun, who appealed a labial reading expert, Trump would have pulled Macron towards himself by saying: “Slow down, let him take you …”, but at that point the two came out of the shot.
When the room takes them back, you see Trump who says to Macron: “You are not in the right place here, you have to do me a favor, you shouldn’t be here”, while Zelensky nods. At that point Macron moved away.
A success
The face to face seems to have been a success, given that immediately after Trump he pronounced some of his hardest words against Vladimir Putin. On his Social Truuth, the US president wrote: “There was no reason for Putin to shoot missiles on civil areas, cities and towns, in the last few days. It makes me think that perhaps he does not want to stop the war, he is only making fun of me, and he must be faced differently, through ‘banks’ or ‘secondary sanctions’? Too many people are dying !!!”.
Macron was then seen his hand tightening his hand on another occasion, always during the funeral of Pope Francis.
