Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Palam Airport in New Delhi.
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It’s not all the time that India’s Prime Minister welcomes a foreign head of the state at the arrival area of airport. The standard protocol is that the foreign dignitaries would usually be welcomed by senior Ministers, officials or designated protocol officers.
So, a lot can be said about the importance of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, when he was welcomed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself at the Palam Airport in Delhi on December 4.
In a gesture that is widely seen as a break from diplomatic protocol, Modi received Putin at the airport with a hug amid a group of artistes performing traditional dances. From the airport, the two leaders travelled to Modi's official residence in his car, nearly three months after the Prime Minister drove with Putin in the Russian leader's vehicle in the Chinese city of Tianjin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.
But this, however, is not the first time that PM Modi has swayed away from protocol to personally welcome foreign heads of state at the airport. And each time it happened, the message was that New Delhi shares a warm and cordial relationship with these countries. Here are some instances from the recent past:
2015: Barack Obama, US President
Credit: White House Photo
2016: Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
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2017: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
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2018: Emmanuel Macron, President of France
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2017: Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister
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2018: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel
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2020: Donald Trump, US President
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2024: Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE
Credit: Gujarat CMO
2025: Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar
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2019: Mohammed bin Salman, crown prince of Saudi Arabia
Apart from head of states, Modi received Saudi Arabia crown prince Mohammed bin Salman at Delhi airport on February 19, 2019.
Credit: PTI Photo