For several years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has almost kept other world leaders waiting for his arrival.

For Putin, the ruler and former KGB agent, this is one of many ways he tries to gain the upper hand in various situations, or simply set an example.

The list of prominent world leaders who should long replace Putin is long, and includes, among others, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Pope Francis, King Carl Gustaf, and Queen Elizabeth.

Not forgetting Erna Solberg, who in 2019 had to wait for Putin before meeting him in St. Petersburg.

“Putin’s only friend”

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un received a much different treatment when, for the first time since 2019, he visited Russia on Wednesday.

As The Washington Post pointed out in an analysis:

Vladimir Putin was not only “unusually” punctual, he even arrived half an hour early.

“Putin’s unusual punctuality confirms his genuine interest in meeting Kim – Putin’s only friend after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” the American newspaper wrote.

The reason may be interdependence, as Dagbladet wrote yesterday.

Overall, North Korea wants access to Russian rocket and satellite technology, and Russia wants to buy artillery shells from North Korea, Vladimir Tikhonov, a professor of Korean studies at the University of Oslo, told Dagbladet.

– This is very opportunistic. Russia and North Korea need each other, but they also have the same ideology. Both countries believe that American hegemony in the world must be fought, Tikhonov said.

Merkel with a record of waiting

Unlike “Vladimir” and “Estragon”, who waited for “Godot” in Samuel Beckett’s famous play, the royal family, clergy and elected officials did not wait for Vladimir Putin in vain.

However, there were also those who were forced to sit on a torture bench for a long time.

The world leader who has been waiting the longest for Vladimir Putin is former German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The train journey attracts attention

Before the meeting in 2014, after Russia occupied and annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula, Merkel had to wait four and a quarter hours to meet the Russian president. according to British newspaper The Independent.

Closest on the list is former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was overthrown in 2014 and fled to Russia. In 2012, Yanukovych, who still lived in Moscow, had to wait four hours for Putin.

Backwards

Queen Elizabeth got a bargain in 2003. The late British monarch had to do it only waited 14 minutes for the Russian President, even though it was covered as an attack on British punctuality and etiquette in the British press.

However, after Russia’s massive invasion of Ukraine, the situation changed several times.

Telling Putin to look towards Britain

When Putin met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Iran last fall, the Russian president had to wait for Erdogan.

Putin appeared clearly uncomfortable, and Erdogan’s actions were described as “revenge.”

PS! The characters “Vladimir” and “Estragon”, not to be confused with Vladimir Putin and Erdogan, just waited in vain for “Godot” for 1 hour 42 minutes in NRK TV production “While we wait for Godot” from 1965.