Leaders gather in New Delhi for BRICS summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday for talks ahead of the two-day BRICS summit that opens on Saturday, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled to hold talks with him later that day. Putin was greeted at Palam Air Force Station by India's Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, according to footage broadcast by Russia's Ria Novosti news agency. It was Putin's first visit to India since December 2025, as reported by several outlets.

The summit brings together leaders of the 11-member group of major emerging economies, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also arriving in New Delhi on Friday for his first visit to India as president. Pezeshkian is due to hold talks with Modi, according to multiple reports.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to arrive on Saturday, marking his first visit to India since 2019 and the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the nuclear-armed neighbours, six years after a deadly military clash along their disputed Himalayan border.

Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as global trade turbulence and oil, are expected to dominate the two-day meeting, according to reports from multiple outlets.

India-China relations in focus

Ties between India and China have warmed in recent months, with flights, visas and high-level contacts gradually being restored. However, deep mistrust remains, with their contested frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating the relationship, as noted in several reports.

Beijing said Friday it was "ready to work with India... by strengthening communication, enhancing cooperation, and properly handling differences", according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.

Xi is due to hold face-to-face talks with Modi later on Saturday, according to New Delhi's foreign ministry.

"They are looking for 'early and substantial harvest' when it comes to the border issue," said Pradeep Taneja, a China-India expert at the University of Melbourne, as quoted in several reports.

Dozens of Tibetan exiles protested in New Delhi on Friday, waving placards against Xi's visit. The demonstrators, like their Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, have lived in India since fleeing a Chinese crackdown in 1959, according to reports.

The underlying territorial dispute remains unresolved, with both sides retaining heavy military deployments along their roughly 3,500-kilometre high-altitude border along Tibet, as reported by several outlets.

Putin, Modi and strategic partnerships

Modi on Friday embraced Putin before their talks, as reported by multiple outlets. Russia is one of New Delhi's most important strategic partners, and India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the Iran war in part by turning to Russia, which has become its most controversial fuel supplier in recent years as the war with Ukraine drags on.

In a social media message in Sanskrit to welcome leaders to the summit, Modi wrote: "One should engage in debate and friendship only with the virtuous, and nothing whatsoever with the unvirtuous."

Putin last visited India in December 2025 but also met Modi in Bishkek this month, according to reports.

Gulf conflict and BRICS expansion strain group

The Gulf conflict is expected to be a central point of contention at the summit. "The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the BRICS summit," said Harsh V. Pant of India's Observer Research Foundation, as quoted in multiple reports.

"What was seen until last year as an achievement -- the expansion of BRICS -- today looks like a big constraint on BRICS," Pant added.

The group's expansion has brought in Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- three countries with sharply differing positions on the war launched by the United States and Israel in February, according to reports.

Shilan Shah of Capital Economics said "the war in Iran will provide a stern test of the (expanded) group's cohesion," noting the failure of the BRICS foreign ministers to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.

Leaders from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are also expected to attend the summit, with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi listed among expected participants in multiple reports. Brazil is represented by Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva campaigns for a fourth term in October elections, according to one report.

Iran president speaks on pressure

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, speaking in New Delhi, said that pressure on Iran "has reached a critical and dangerous stage" following the "military aggression by the United States and Israel", according to multiple reports. He also said "BRICS was established to counter unilateralism", according to Tehran's IRNA news agency.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Kyiv this month, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was "grateful to India for its commitment to ending this unjust war".

Security preparations

Posters of a beaming Modi line streets across New Delhi to welcome leaders, with heavy deployments of security forces across the capital and widespread traffic restrictions in central districts. Delhi police have urged people to "stay patient, stay cooperative", with Friday declared a city holiday in the capital, according to reports.