RT India retracts post on Shehbaz-Putin meeting

RT India has taken down a social media post that claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was "waiting to meet" Russian President Vladimir Putin, conceding that the claim "may have been a misrepresentation of events".

In a clarification issued late on Friday night, the outlet said: "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."

According to Indian media reports, the original RT India post had claimed that PM Shehbaz waited for President Putin for 40 minutes before "growing tired and gate-crashing" the Russian leader's meeting with President Erdogan. "He left ten minutes later," The Times of India and Hindustan Times quoted the original post as saying.

Meanwhile, Russia's RIA news agency reported that PM Shehbaz later joined the talks between Presidents Erdogan and Putin, which had continued for 40 minutes behind closed doors.

Sharing on X late Friday from a number of videos showing the premier's engagements, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said: "Great interactions with world leaders. Pakistan shining at the global stage".

The footage showed PM Shehbaz shaking hands with President Putin in what appeared to be a hallway. Tarar described the engagements with Putin, Erdogan and Pezeshkian as "warm and cordial exchanges".

Similarly, Prime Minister's Spokesperson for Foreign Media Mosharraf Zaidi also shared the same video, saying the premier had "productive meetings with his peers from all the countries" attending the forum.

"The customary warmth in relations was in ample evidence 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 Russia's state-funded global media network. President Putin formally launched the RT India news channel last week during a visit to New Delhi.