Three stills of President Vladimir Putin in Iran, waiting to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 19, 2022. He makes various awkward faces.
President Vladimir Putin waiting to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Tehran, Iran, on July 19, 2022, in images collaged by Insider.Turkish Presidency /Anadolu Agency via Getty Images/Insider
  • Putin was waiting for a meeting to start.

  • Before the Turkish president arrived, Turkish media focused on Putin's gestures.

  • The treatment Putin gave to Erdoan in 2020 caused uproar in Turkey.

Putin was left awkwardly in front of the cameras as he waited to meet the Turkish president.

The conflict in Syria was the focus of Putin's visit to Tehran.

He can be seen striding into the room in the video taken before the meeting.

He moved from foot to foot with a deep expression. A camera operated by Anadolu zooms in on him as he waits. The cameras clicked for 40 seconds before the man arrived to shake his hand.

Joyce Karam, the National journalist, commented on the clip of the incident, saying that it says a lot about Putin's global status.

—Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) July 19, 2022

In the past, Putin has kept leaders waiting for hours when they were in power, but he is not used to it.

Erdoan has been there many times. In 2020, Russian state TV channel Rossiya-1 superimposed a timer over its footage of the two minutes that Putin left the Turkish president waiting with his delegation outside a meeting room in Moscow

A 2020 screenshot from Russian state TV channel Rossia-1 showing a closeup of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan waiting to meet Putin (who is not pictured). A digital clock on the screen records how long he waited.
Russian state TV channel Rossiya-1 superimposed a timer on footage of Erdoğan waiting to meet Putin in 2020.Rossia-1/YouTube

The Washington Post said the pause was "sweet payback" for the uproar in Turkey.

Insider has previously reported that both leaders rule their countries as strongmen, with one expert saying that the Turkish leader is more Putin than Putin.

Turkish territory has been staked out as a peacemaker since Putin invaded Ukraine.

Turkey voted in favor of suspending Russia from the UN Human Rights Council despite not following Western countries in punishing Russia.

Business Insider has an article on it.