“The busiest schedule” , “an open and honest meeting with the US president that Barak Obama himself requested,” – according to the Kremlin media, the G20 summit was a huge triumph for Russian President Vladimir Putin, why he even led the column of presidents and prime ministers as they entered the conference hall in in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Western media however, were less fawning, the Obama-Putin meeting was described as unofficial and on the sidelines of the summit, the Russian president’s schedule was no different from that of any other leader attending the summit and during the final group photograph, President Obama gave Putin the death stare.
Vesti.ru announced that practically every G20 leader wanted a meeting with Vladimir Putin and the Russian president had the busiest schedule at the summit. However, comparing Putin’s agenda with that of British Prime Minister Theresa May, they are practically the same in the number of planned meetings.
Vesti also completely misrepresented what the US President said about his meeting with Putin, Barak Obama called the 90 minute meeting “candid, blunt and businesslike,” Vesti meanwhile claimed Obama said his meetings with Putin are always open, honest and businesslike. The gaps of trust that prevented any agreement between Washington and Moscow that President Obama talked about, were completely ignored by Vesti and other Russian media.
Russian media also went out of its way to say that the Obama-Putin meeting was requested by President Obama, first reporting that the presidents agreed to a separate meeting, only to later change its story.
Russia’s Defense Ministry channel Zvezda underscored how Putin headed the group of leaders as they entered the conference hall while President Obama was last in the, although in photographs the Russian president can be seen walking side by side with German chancellor Angela Merkel and the Chinese President, while in another photograph he is behind Merkel and Xi Jinping.
