Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif got here below public scrutiny on Friday after an sudden second throughout a world discussion board in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, the place he briefly joined a gathering between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Based on studies, Prime Minister Sharif had been ready for a scheduled interplay with President Putin. After ready for round 40 minutes, he entered a gathering that was already underway between the Russian and Turkish leaders. Sharif remained within the assembly for about 10 minutes earlier than leaving.
We deleted an earlier publish about Pakistani Prime Minister Sharif ready to satisfy Vladimir Putin on the Peace and Belief Discussion board in Turkmenistan.
The publish might have been a misrepresentation of the occasions.
— RT_India (@RT_India_news) December 12, 2025
The event sparked widespread dialogue on social media, with customers questioning the dealing with of the diplomatic engagement and describing the episode as an ungainly second for Pakistan’s management. A number of posts characterised the incident as a diplomatic embarrassment, whereas others used satire and criticism to touch upon Pakistan’s international coverage strategy.
🚨 PAKISTAN’S GLOBAL COMEDY SHOW CONTINUES!
PM Shehbaz Sharif waited 40 minutes for Putin…
Bought impatient…
Then walked straight into Putin’s assembly with Erdogan like a misplaced tourist- and slipped out in 10 minutes. 😭🤦♂️
Solely Pakistan can flip diplomacy into full-time… pic.twitter.com/A9RxTt9a7r
— The Alternate Media (@AlternateMediaX) December 12, 2025
Russian state information company RIA Novosti reported that President Putin and President Erdogan had been holding talks in a restricted format after members of their respective delegations had exited. It added that the Pakistani Prime Minister later joined the assembly, having initially anticipated a separate dialogue with President Putin in one other room.
The incident befell on the sidelines of the Worldwide Discussion board for Peace and Belief in Ashgabat, which introduced collectively a number of world leaders, together with Putin, Erdogan, and Sharif, as a part of broader discussions on regional and international points.
Following the occasion, Prime Minister Sharif posted on X about his assembly with Turkish President Erdogan, describing him as a “time-tested and trusted good friend of Pakistan.” He mentioned the 2 leaders mentioned cooperation in commerce, power, defence, connectivity, and funding, together with regional and international developments equivalent to Gaza and Afghanistan.
The episode comes amid Pakistan’s efforts to strengthen relations with Russia and follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest high-profile go to to India, the place he held bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and obtained a ceremonial welcome.
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