ISLAMABAD: RT India that carried a misleading post on social media platform X regarding Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ashgabat on Friday has deleted the post and issued a clarification that it may have been a “misrepresentation of the events”.
According to Current, the controversy began when RT India posted a video claiming Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif waited for almost forty minutes to see President Putin before joining the Russian leader and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a meeting.
The post claimed Shehbaz Sharif remained in the meeting for approximately 10 minutes before leaving. The tweet was later deleted, with RT India issuing a clarification on X (formerly Twitter) stating: “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.”
The incident occurred on the international forum dedicated to the International Year of Peace and Trust in Ashgabat, which brought together several global leaders, including Putin, Erdogan, and Sharif.
Reports said that after their delegations exited the room, Presidents Putin and Erdogan were holding talks in a restricted format. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif later joined the meeting, having initially expected a separate discussion with President Putin in another room.
Pakistani media reported that Sharif interacted with both leaders and discussed issues of bilateral and regional importance. During the visit, the Prime Minister also met Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Following the forum, Prime Minister Sharif posted on X about his meeting with President Erdogan, describing him as a “time-tested and trusted friend of Pakistan.”
He said the two leaders reaffirmed cooperation in trade, energy, defense, connectivity, and investment, and exchanged views on regional and global developments, including Gaza and Afghanistan.
The RT India post triggered reactions from several Pakistani political figures and commentators on X. Many accounts that are sympathetic to the PTI used the now-deleted false news to score political points. RT India’s clarification acknowledged that its initial post may not have accurately reflected the sequence of events.
