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Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday to join fellow world leaders for a high-stakes, two-day BRICS summit hosted by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The gathering brings together key heads of state against a backdrop of escalating international instability, with ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East set to dominate discussions alongside shared economic challenges.
The summit is serving as a major diplomatic platform for the newly expanded 11-member bloc of emerging economies. Leaders are seeking to navigate deep geopolitical divisions, as the conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East test the group's capacity to maintain consensus and present an alternative voice to Western-led global institutions.
Among the most closely watched participants is Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose arrival marks his first official visit to India since 2019. The trip represents the most significant breakthrough to date in a cautious, gradual thaw in relations between the two nuclear-armed Asian neighbours following a deadly military confrontation along their contested Himalayan boundary six years ago.
In recent months, Beijing and New Delhi have taken measured steps toward rehabilitating bilateral ties, slowly resuming commercial flights, easing visa issuance, and re-establishing high-level official contacts. Despite these diplomatic advances, persistent structural frictions remain, underpinned by unresolved frontier disputes, an expanding bilateral trade deficit, and enduring strategic rivalry across the region.
The Indian capital has implemented extraordinary measures to host the high-profile international delegation. Streets throughout New Delhi have been adorned with welcoming posters featuring Modi, while authorities have deployed extensive security personnel and enacted major traffic curbs across central districts, with Delhi police publicly urging local residents to remain patient and cooperative.
In addition to multilateral summit sessions, extensive bilateral diplomacy is scheduled on the sidelines of the main event. Modi is due to hold formal one-on-one meetings with both Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with discussions also expected between the Indian prime minister and China's Xi.
Originally established in 2009, the BRICS alliance was designed to provide major developing economies with greater collective influence within international governance systems historically dominated by Western powers. However, the bloc's recent enlargement to 11 nations has introduced divergent priorities and complicated its internal decision-making processes.
Regional analysts have highlighted the difficulties confronting the expanded forum. Harsh V. Pant of India's Observer Research Foundation observed that the turmoil across the Middle East would likely expose significant divisions among the member states during the New Delhi proceedings.
Pant noted that while the inclusion of new members was celebrated as a major institutional achievement through last year, that rapid expansion has now emerged as a notable operational constraint on the bloc's ability to act cohesively on contentious global matters.
The diplomatic presence of Pezeshkian marks his first official trip to India since assuming the Iranian presidency, placing the ongoing Middle East conflict at the forefront of the summit's formal deliberations.
Financial and geopolitical experts warn that these regional hostilities could strain the bloc's internal unity. Shilan Shah of Capital Economics emphasized that the war involving Iran will present a stern test for the expanded group's cohesion, pointing out that BRICS foreign ministers were previously unable to forge an agreement on a joint communique during their meeting in New Delhi in May.
The summit also underscores the intricate balancing act maintained by host nation India. New Delhi continues to preserve cordial and functional diplomatic ties with both Iran and Israel, while concurrently managing its crucial strategic partnership with the United States.
Simultaneously, the summit provides an arena for continued engagement regarding the war in Ukraine. Putin's trip to India follows his previous visit in December 2025 and a recent bilateral meeting with Modi held earlier this month in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.
India has also maintained active diplomatic channels with Kyiv. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar traveled to the Ukrainian capital this month for high-level talks, during which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his gratitude to New Delhi for its ongoing commitment toward bringing an end to the unjust war.
As deliberations unfold in the Indian capital, the summit stands as a pivotal trial for the expanded BRICS coalition, testing whether its diverse member nations can bridge deep foreign policy fault lines and formulate shared approaches to global economic and security crises.
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