New Delhi: For 50 seconds Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin — looking embarrassed — was reportedly kept waiting in front of the media by Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of their meeting in Iran Tuesday.
A viral clip of the incident shows a fidgety Putin waiting in a room full of reporters to meet Erdogan, who shows up nearly a minute later.
Joyce Karam, a senior correspondent at the UAE publication The National, shared the video on social media, saying Putin looking “frazzled” in front of cameras displayed “how much has changed after Ukraine.”
Those 50 seconds that Erdogan made Putin wait, looking frazzled in-front of cameras say plenty of how much has changed after Ukraine: pic.twitter.com/giGirqaYYP
— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) July 19, 2022
In the video, reportedly shot by Turkey’s government news agency Anadolu, the Russian leader can be seen seemingly getting awkward, with the clip showing close-ups of his face. He is seen shifting from one foot to the other as he glances around the room, not looking too happy. Later, Erdogan walks into the room and Putin greets him.
This incident took place ahead of a meeting where the two leaders were meant to discuss the easing of Black Sea exports of Ukrainian grain, the blockage of which is causing food shortages around the world. This was their meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Putin is notorious for keeping world leaders waiting when they come to see him. Some in the Turkish media speculated if Erdogan had kept Putin waiting as “payback” for a 2020 meeting in Moscow when he was left waiting by the Russian President for about two minutes before a meeting.
Turkey’s T24 website, posting about the incident, asked in the headline: “Was it revenge?”
Several Twitter users joked about the video, comparing Putin’s situation to someone getting “stood up on a date” or “waiting for one’s spouse”.
My husband when he’s waiting for me to get in the car… https://t.co/HqcjxoidjT
— Rachel Vindman ? (@natsechobbyist) July 20, 2022
I had a date like this once. https://t.co/bakcdI0Iv5
— Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) July 20, 2022
Erdogan clearly seeing this as his moment ?
Let’s see whether it leads on any breakthrough with ?? grain https://t.co/4mFjwlTLnT
— James Waterhouse (@JamWaterhouse) July 20, 2022
Also read: The West could have been braver in its approach to Russia-Ukraine war, says IISS’s Dr Chipman