- 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
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was heavily trolled on social media after a video of him allegedly "gatecrashing" a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin went viral.
According to a video shared by RT India, Sharif ended up walking into a closed-door meeting between President Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after his own scheduled bilateral with the Russian leader was delayed in Turkmenistan's capital city, Ashgabat, on the sidelines of the International Forum dedicated to the International Year of Peace and Trust.
RT India later deleted the video, saying the post "may have been a misrepresentation of the events".
"We deleted an earlier post about Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif waiting to meet Vladimir Putin at the Peace and Trust Forum in Turkmenistan. The post may have been a misrepresentation of the events," they wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
RT India had earlier said that Sharif waited for 40 minutes in a room along with his delegation before deciding to enter the venue where Putin was holding talks with Erdogan.
Pakistani media reported that Sharif interacted with Putin and Erdogan and discussed various issues of bilateral and regional concern.
Shehbaz also held a meeting with President Massoud Pezeshkian of Iran.
