Collective Putin humiliation at summit meetings?

Twitter montage making waves

Created: 2022-09-20 04:53

By: Hannes Niemeyer

Vladimir Putin is known for keeping state guests waiting.

But what if the tables are turned?

Apparently this happened in the last four meetings.

Moscow – A meeting with Vladimir Putin: For a long time, this was considered an idea that certainly made some politicians nervous in advance.

The Kremlin ruler is known for toying with his counterparts, no matter how important heads of state they are.

Former chancellor Angela Merkel reported in early summer that Putin had attempted to intimidate people at a joint meeting.

Alone and crippled: Putin before meeting Erdogan.

The Turkish President apparently kept the Kremlin chief waiting.

© IMAGO/Alexander Demianchuk

Putin meets Erdogan and other heads of state: Twitter montage allows speculation about humiliation

Before Putin meets his guests, preferably at an oversized negotiating table, he also likes to let them wait lonely and alone.

This happened at earlier meetings with the recently deceased Queen Elizabeth II or with ex-US President Barack Obama.

In fact, the Ukraine war was only intended to further convince the West of Putin's power.

With the turnaround in the war – Ukraine is currently launching a successful counter-offensive – the tide has apparently also changed as far as Putin's position at international meetings is concerned.

At least if you can believe a Twitter montage that is currently making waves on the Internet.

The picture was shared by BBC Russia investigative reporter Andrey Zakharov, among others.

Shown is a montage of four photos showing Vladimir Putin before meetings with other heads of state at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting.

The images apparently come from transmissions by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti and are intended to show Putin before individual meetings with the heads of state of Kyrgyzstan, India, Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Striking: Instead of Putin making his partners wait, this time he is the one who is left standing.

Shift in the balance of power or even a collective humiliation for the Kremlin boss?

This is being discussed online.

Putin gets a "taste of his own medicine": Did four heads of state keep the Kremlin boss waiting?

CNN analyst Bianna Golodryga, for example, retweeted the post and wrote: "Putin is now getting a taste of his own medicine." Users already see this as a progressive loss of Putin's global influence.

BBC journalist Zakharov himself wrote about his tweet: “The person who is intentionally late for meetings is now more likely to appear.

What happened?".

In any case, it is not entirely clear how long Putin had to wait for the interlocutor and whether there were reasons for the delays or whether the actions were intentional.

A video showed, however, at least before a meeting, how Putin had to wait for the Kyrgyz prime minister and did not exactly look patient.

And even with photos before the Erdogan meeting, Putin looks down on the ground alone.

Health speculation: This is how Putin has changed in three decades

View photo gallery

However, there were no reports of waiting times when Putin and China's President Xi met - but the meeting of the "old friends" seemed remarkably meaningless.

Meanwhile, attacks by the Russian army in Ukraine are said to be meaningless.

Is Putin starting a tactic of attrition in the war?