- Pakistani PM Shehbaz Sharif was to meet Putin at Turkmenistan forum on neutrality anniversary
- Sharif waited 40 minutes for his meeting but it was delayed without explanation
- He entered a closed-door Putin-Erdogan meeting seeking a brief interaction
At an international forum in Turkmenistan commemorating the 30th anniversary of the country's permanent neutrality on December 12, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the event. However, the encounter took an unexpected turn.
According to a video shared by RT India, Sharif ended up walking into a closed-door meeting between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after his own scheduled bilateral with the Russian leader was delayed.
After waiting in an adjacent room with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar for 40 minutes, an increasingly impatient Sharif decided to enter the venue where Putin was holding talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in hopes of securing at least a quick interaction.
He is said to have departed roughly 10 minutes later.
❗️The Moment PM Sharif Gate-crashed Putin's Meeting With Erdogan After Waiting For 40 Mins https://t.co/r4L9XhA9IY pic.twitter.com/shi7YLMgmP
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) December 12, 2025
The moment, caught on camera, has drawn ridicule online, with social media users framing it as a diplomatic misstep. One user on X wrote, "Putin does not want to waste his time on beggars," while another commented, "Even Trump did the same with these beggars."
The forum itself marked a key milestone for Turkmenistan, whose officially recognised permanent neutrality, endorsed unanimously by the UN General Assembly on December 12, 1995, commits the country to staying out of military alliances, avoiding involvement in conflicts except in self-defence, and generally prohibiting foreign military bases on its soil.
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