A recent viral video of the Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, waiting for over 40 minutes to meet Vladimir Putin before walking into a closed-door meeting between the Russian President and the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Turkmenistan, surfaced online on Friday.
The video that went viral over the internet soon after being uploaded has now been deleted, with a clarification that it may have been a “misrepresentation of the events”.
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Post Deleted after Being Published
Previous posts that were shared by RT India stated that, “PM Sharif waited for over 40 minutes for President Putin before growing tired and gate-crashing the Russian leader’s meeting with Erdogan. He left ten minutes later.”
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RT India later deleted the post and issued a clarification stating that, “We deleted an earlier post about the Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif waiting to meet Vladimir Putin at the Peace Trust Forum in Turkmenistan. The post may have been a misrepresentation of the events.”
The video went viral at a time when Sharif had been repeatedly attempting to strengthen Pakistan’s ties with Moscow. Putin has publicly showcased a far closer diplomatic effort to retain and flourish diplomatic relations with India.
During the bilateral talks with Putin in China earlier in September 2025, Sharif attempted to strike a conciliatory tone. At that time, he told the Russian leader, “I would like to thank you for supporting Pakistan and trying to have a balancing act in the region.” These statements were made when the United States, under President Donald Trump, had criticised both India and China for continuing to purchase Russian oil.
40-Minute Wait for a Meeting
After the fiasco of the tweet being deleted after being published, media reports stated that Shehbaz Sharif sat with Ishaq Dar for 40 minutes. It was after waiting for such an extended period that he rose and went to the meeting room. A meeting between Putin and Erdogan was already going on when Shehbaz entered the meeting room. Numerous reports suggested that Sharif had reached Russia’s Black Sea resort in Sochi to have a one-on-one word with Putin, but when, even after waiting for 40 minutes, he could not get into the meeting, he went into the designated meeting room himself.
Pakistani Leader Also Met with Chinese President Xi Jinping
During the same trip, with Beijing renewing its commitment to expanding the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor and upgrading the bilateral free trade agreement, Xi told Sharif that China expected Pakistan to ensure stronger security for Chinese projects.
Sharif later endorsed Xi’s Global Governance Initiative at the SCO summit, calling it significant for global peace and pledging Pakistan’s full support. During the same summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed for unified global action against terrorism, remarking, “Security, peace, and stability are the basis of development of any country…”.