This Is a Real Photo Of Putin Speaking with Other Leaders at an Enormous Table

On Jan 9. 2024, a Reddit post showing a photo of world leaders gathered at an enormous table went viral in the subreddit r/Damnthatsinteresting. The post was captioned “Putin’s table as he meets with four other leaders at Caspian summit.”

This was an accurate description of a photo taken on June 29, 2022, during the 6th Caspian Sea Summit. As described by The Associated Press, the event — a regional summit of leaders from Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan — was Putin’s first public appearance following his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year:

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of the other four countries along the Caspian Sea […] reaffirmed their shared commitment to keep foreign militaries out of the region. The presidents of Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan met in Turkmenistan’s capital, Ashgabat, for a summit to discuss regional cooperation and international issues.

While journalists were not present inside the room, a video from the event housed on Getty Images shows the monitors from which journalists watched the meeting showing Putin speaking at the same table:

The picture of the Caspian Sea meeting first went viral at the time of the meeting as a companion to a photo of the 2022 G7 summit, which occurred a few days earlier and saw many more world leaders crowded around a much smaller table. Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the minister of internal affairs of Ukraine, for example, made this comparison on X at the time:

Above – the G7 summit.
9 people at the table.

Below – the Caspian summit (Putin is participating).
5 people at the table. pic.twitter.com/yApmkZZ0tH

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) June 29, 2022

Putin’s public appearances often involve abnormally long or large tables, which has been a consistent source of speculation and mockery since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Because the description of this photograph showing Putin and three other world leaders at a large table is accurate, the claim is True.

Sources