Russian President Vladimir Putin has been known to make world leaders wait hours for scheduled meetings.
He often keeps his distance from officials by sitting at absurdly-long tables.
While in closer quarters, he likes to settle into the "classic pose of aggression", former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton described.
Legs splayed, blue eyes staring at you while "manspreading", she said.
These are all tactics the Russian president has used to assert his power.
A former KGB agent, Mr Putin is known to be a tough negotiator who enjoys creating chaos to throw his counterpart off.
In 2007, he brought his black Labrador Retriever Konni to a meeting with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Ms Merkel, who has a well-documented fear of animals, wrote in her memoir: "I could tell from Putin's facial expressions that he was enjoying the situation."
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was pushing for a chance to face off with the Russian leader.
The pair have only met once — Mr Zelenskyy was only seven months into his presidency, and Russia was yet to fully invade Ukraine.
All talk, no face-off
Mr Zelenskyy was ready to go.
When Mr Putin last week proposed holding direct peace talks with Ukraine in Türkiye on May 15, Mr Zelenskyy immediately agreed.
But he insisted the Russian president also attend.
Meeting face-to-face was the only way to secure a ceasefire after Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago, he said.
Because "absolutely everything in Russia" depended on Mr Putin.
When the Kremlin finally released its list of attendees, Mr Putin's name was not there.
Instead, Moscow sent a second-tier team of negotiators.
Mr Zelenskyy accused Russia of "disrespect", saying he would no longer personally take part.
He announced the Kyiv team would be headed by the defence minister.
Lasting first impressions
The two leaders first met at a Paris summit in 2019.
Meetings took place alongside Ms Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron to try to revive a 2015 peace deal in eastern Ukraine.
At the time, Mr Zelenskyy — a former comedian — had little political experience.
John Lough, the head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Centre, said the footage from the 2019 interactions between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders was telling.
Initially, Mr Putin appeared "super confident", smirking while sitting around a table as the press took photos.
"The body language tells you everything: 'I'm going to crush this guy,'" Mr Lough told the ABC.
Mr Lough, a former NATO official who had a posting in Moscow, said the footage from the press conference at the end of the meetings was a clear contrast.
Mr Putin was "angry, frustrated, shuffling his papers".
"He was clearly thinking, 'How does this guy have the impudence to talk to me in this way?'" Mr Lough said.
Over the years, Mr Zelenskyy has demonstrated that he is capable of defending a viewpoint.
"He can be very tough, and he uses language and an approach that clearly gets under Putin's skin," Mr Lough said.
"The Russian side continually underestimated Zelenskyy."
But these days, Mr Putin would know his Ukrainian counterpart wasn't such an easy pushover.
If the leaders ever were to meet again, he would likely ramp up the intimidation, and show Mr Zelenskyy that he had no choice, Mr Lough said.
Putin trained in the art of manipulation
Former US president Obama has spoken about Mr Putin's "schtick" and attempts to look like a "tough guy", but said he was largely treated with respect.
However, he was forced to endure encounters where the Russian leader would rant endlessly for up to an hour.
Robert Horvath, a specialist on Russian Politics at La Trobe University, said this was a tactic noted by other Western leaders.
"They would just have to sit as Putin raved on and on, spouting Kremlin propaganda and lies," he said.
If Mr Putin is not playing power games and using intimidation tactics, he lays on the charm offensive.
Dr Horvath said Mr Putin's KGB training had shaped the way he approached negotiations.
It had given him particular people skills.
The KGB was the main foreign intelligence and domestic security agency of the Soviet Union until its break-up in 1991.
Mr Putin was trained in "the art of manipulation," helping to recruit potential spies for the agency, Dr Horvath told the ABC.
"The job was to make those people feel that you had a connection with them, that they could trust you."
Mr Putin has used this approach to try and win officials over so they will not stand in his way.
"We've seen him mimicking the body movements of people he's seeking to make friends with, and he'll tell them exactly what they want to hear," Dr Horvath said.
"They are left with a false image of who he really is."
This was evident after Mr Putin's interactions with US President Donald Trump's senior envoy Steve Witkoff.
Mr Witkoff, a New York real estate developer who had no prior diplomatic experience, met with Mr Putin in St Petersburg last month.
After the meeting, Mr Witkoff said he had optimism a "full-on" ceasefire could be reached through negotiations between the two sides.
He also detailed his adoration for Mr Putin, telling former Fox News host Tucker Carlson that he "liked" the Russian president.
"I don't regard Putin as a bad guy … He's super smart," he said.
Mr Witkoff revealed that Mr Putin had also commissioned "a beautiful portrait" of Mr Trump for him to take home to the US president.
Mr Lough from the New Eurasian Strategies Centre said Mr Witkoff was playing exactly the game Mr Putin wanted.
"The Russians love foreigners who just got off the plane and don't know anything about the country," he said.
"They would classify Steve Witkoff as the useful idiot."
Don't expect 'Western-centric' negotiations
Both Russia and Ukraine have sought to show they are working towards peace after Mr Trump prioritised ending the war.
But they have yet to agree on the path forward.
European allies of Ukraine have also threatened heavy sanctions on Russia if a ceasefire is not reached.
Expectations for the Istanbul peace talks have been lowered with the absence of the leaders and Mr Trump, who had suggested he could take part.
Mr Trump had pressed for Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskyy to meet, but brushed off the Kremlin leader's decision not to attend.
Instead, he said he was the one who should be meeting the Russian president.
Mr Lough said there was a chance the Ukrainian and Russian leaders could "eventually" meet.
"It will be a very intriguing encounter if we get to that point … it will very much depend on who else is in the room," he said.
But Peter Tesch, the former Australian ambassador to Russia, said getting the leaders to face-off to make a deal was wishful thinking.
"The notion that Putin and Zelenskyy will sit there and wrestle a ceasefire into existence is just ludicrous," he told the ABC.
Sitting across from a table was "a very Western-centric view of how you negotiate," he added.
"Eastern negotiation is a system that has been characterised by mastery of procedure, of theatre and by toughness."
Rather than negotiation, there was "show boatery", such as hosting meetings at long tables.
Mr Tesch does not believe Russia had any intention of committing to a ceasefire.
And so far, Mr Putin had been playing games with the US.
The Kremlin said the talks in Istanbul would take into account the draft abandoned in 2022 and the current situation on the ground.
Mr Tesch did not have high hopes, saying Russia would likely continue to stall progress.
"This is a long game that Putin has been playing, and all the indications are he's still playing it," he said.
"He doesn't want peace in Ukraine. He wants a piece of Ukraine."
