Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are due to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to meet Modi on the sidelines of the summit.
Putin arrived at Palam Air Force Station in New Delhi, where he was greeted by India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, according to footage broadcast by Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency.
Ahead of the leaders’ arrival, posters showing a beaming Modi were placed across streets in New Delhi. Security forces were heavily deployed throughout the capital, while widespread traffic restrictions were imposed in central districts. Delhi police urged people to remain patient and cooperative.
BRICS, which stands for its original members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers.
The grouping has since expanded to include Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, three countries with sharply differing positions on the US-Israel war on Iran launched in February.
“The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the BRICS summit,” Harsh V Pant of India’s Observer Research Foundation told the AFP news agency.
“What was seen until last year as an achievement – the expansion of BRICS – today looks like a big constraint on BRICS,” Pant said.
For Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, the summit will mark his first visit to India as president and will put the Middle East conflict firmly on the agenda. His visit is also the first in eight years for the role.
“The war in Iran will provide a stern test of the (expanded) group’s cohesion,” Shilan Shah of Capital Economics told AFP, noting the failure of the BRICS foreign ministers to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.
India maintains cordial relations with Iran and Israel, while also carefully balancing its ties with Washington.
India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the war on Iran in part by turning to Russia, one of its most important strategic partners and its most controversial fuel supplier in recent years, as Moscow’s war against Ukraine continues.
Putin last visited India in December 2025, but he also met Modi in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, this month.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Kyiv this month, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “grateful to India for its commitment to ending this unjust war”.
For China’s Xi Jinping, the summit marks his first visit to India since 2019 and the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the rival neighbours, six years after a deadly military clash along their disputed Himalayan border.
Relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have been warming again, with flights, visas and high-level contacts gradually being restored.
However, deep mistrust remains. Their contested frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry continue to complicate ties as leaders gather in New Delhi for a BRICS summit facing major divisions over war, diplomacy and economic challenges.
About The Author
Comment List