PM Modi breaks protocol to welcome Putin at airport: These are the other leaders who got the same honour

In a gesture that is widely seen as a departure from diplomatic protocol, Modi received Putin at the Palam Airport in Delhi with a hug amid a group of artistes performing traditional dances

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

2016: Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi

2017: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina

2018: Emmanuel Macron, President of France

Credit: X/@narendramodi

2017: Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister

2018: Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel

2020: Donald Trump, US President

2024: Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of UAE

2025: Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar

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.