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. "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. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES