Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif discovered himself on the centre of an uncommon humiliation this week after ready practically 40 minutes for a scheduled assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, solely to stroll right into a closed-door dialogue between Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A video posted by RT India exhibits that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif inadvertently walked right into a closed-door assembly between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after his personal bilateral assembly with Putin was pushed again.
RT later posted an announcement on X, saying that the submit had been deleted because it “could have been a misrepresentation of the occasions.”
We deleted an earlier submit about Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif ready to satisfy Vladimir Putin on the Peace and Belief Discussion board in Turkmenistan.
The submit could have been a misrepresentation of the occasions.
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) December 12, 2025
Sharif, accompanied by Overseas Minister Ishaq Dar, had been saved ready in a close-by room for round 40 minutes. Rising more and more annoyed, he finally selected to enter the assembly room the place Putin and Erdoğan have been already in dialogue, hoping to safe a minimum of a short trade with the Russian chief.
Lengthy wait, few outcomes
Sharif arrived on the assembly venue in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi with expectations of a one-on-one dialogue with President Putin. However when that assembly did not materialise after an prolonged wait of about 40 minutes, sources say the Pakistani prime minister grew annoyed.
With official aides reportedly unable to safe a slot in Putin’s schedule, Sharif as an alternative entered a gathering already in progress between Putin and Erdogan, an unorthodox transfer that was captured on video and broadly circulated on social media.
The footage exhibits Sharif getting into the room, greeting each leaders briefly after which leaving inside minutes. Whereas some observers have interpreted the act as “gate-crashing”, others inside diplomatic circles describe it as a calculated expression of Islamabad’s willpower to be heard amid competing priorities.
A check of diplomatic persistence and positioning
The incident is greater than a minor embarrassment; it highlights the precarious balancing act Pakistan should carry out in an more and more multipolar world. Historically aligned with China and sustaining advanced ties with each Moscow and Washington, Islamabad faces stress to say its international coverage relevance whilst great-power relations shift because of the Ukraine battle, renewed US give attention to the Indo-Pacific, and Turkey’s extra impartial outreach.
For Sharif, a gathering with Putin was greater than symbolic. Pakistan has sought to deepen financial and power cooperation with Russia together with discussions on oil and gasoline imports, commerce concessions, and potential collaboration on infrastructure tasks.
A direct dialog with Putin might have bolstered Islamabad’s leverage on these fronts. As an alternative, the fractured scheduling and improvised entry into the Putin-Erdogan assembly highlighted Pakistan’s secondary standing in a diplomatic enviornment dominated by bigger regional gamers.
The diplomatic optics
Critics argue that Sharif’s determination to enter the assembly uninvited could have been counterproductive.
“Diplomacy is constructed on protocol and mutual respect,” says one former ambassador. “Even when relations are pleasant, bypassing gatekeepers sends the mistaken message about preparedness and precedence.”
The Turkish-Russian assembly itself was broadly anticipated to give attention to escalating tensions within the West Asia and on financial cooperation, significantly in power and commerce. Erdogan, who has skilfully balanced Ankara’s relationships with each the West and Russia, instructions vital diplomatic capital. For Sharif, getting into that area, even briefly, was maybe meant to sign that Pakistan too seeks a seat on the desk of rising geopolitical dialogues.
What Sharif sought and what he acquired
Reviews recommend that Sharif didn’t emerge from the encounter with any substantive settlement or perhaps a follow-up assembly scheduled with Putin. As an alternative, the episode has drawn consideration for its theatrics reasonably than its diplomatic dividends.
Pakistani analysts mentioned that whereas the worldwide media fixated on the video, home protection has been extra circumspect, specializing in why Sharif’s staff did not safe a proper assembly slot upfront.
Some consultants argue that this misstep underscores a broader problem for Pakistan: the necessity to professionalise its diplomatic corps and technique in order that engagements with world leaders yield concrete outcomes reasonably than headlines about protocol breaches.
Home and worldwide reactions
In Pakistan, reactions have been combined. Supporters described Sharif’s actions as a daring assertion of company, saying it confirmed willingness to pursue nationwide pursuits proactively. Critics, nevertheless, pointed to the dearth of tangible outcomes and questioned whether or not such moments might weaken Pakistan’s credibility on the world stage.
Internationally, analysts noticed the surreal nature of the clip but additionally pointed to the bigger context: Russia’s international calendar is closely oversubscribed, with leaders from China, India, Turkey and others competing for time with Putin. In that atmosphere, smaller states could discover themselves deprioritised regardless of longstanding ties.
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