RT India has removed a social media post claiming that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was “waiting to meet” Russian President Vladimir Putin, admitting that the claim “may be a misrepresentation of events”.
In a clarification published Friday evening, the outlet said: “We removed a previous post about Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif waiting to meet Vladimir Putin at the Peace and Trust forum in Turkmenistan. This post may have been a misrepresentation of events.”
According to Indian media, RT India’s first report claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz waited for President Putin for 40 minutes before “getting tired and forcing the door” to the Russian leader’s meeting with President Erdogan. “He left ten minutes later,” the Times of India and Hindustan Times newspapers quoted the original message as saying.
Separately, Russian news agency RIA reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz then joined the talks between Presidents Erdogan and Putin, which continued for 40 minutes behind closed doors.
Sharing on
The footage showed Prime Minister Shehbaz shaking hands with President Putin in what appeared to be a corridor. Tarar described engagements with Putin, Erdogan and Pezeshkian as “warm and cordial exchanges.”
Similarly, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, also shared the same video, saying that the Prime Minister had “productive meetings with his peers from all countries” attending the forum.
“The usual warmth in relations was on full display as the Prime Minister shared the day with President Erdogan, President Putin and a host of other key world leaders,” he said. The Russian Embassy in Pakistan also reposted the video.
It is pertinent to note that RT India is the newest offshoot of the Russian state-funded global media network. President Putin officially launched the RT India news channel last week during a visit to New Delhi.
