Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday ahead of a two-day BRICS summit expected to be dominated by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as broader economic challenges.
Putin landed at Palam Air Force Station, where he was greeted by India's Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh. Posters of a smiling Prime Minister Narendra Modi lined streets across the capital, while heavy security deployments and widespread traffic restrictions were put in place across central districts. Delhi police urged residents to be patient and cooperative.
The 11-member summit will bring together several leaders for high-stakes bilateral meetings. Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are both due to hold talks with Modi, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to meet the Indian prime minister on the sidelines.
It will be Pezeshkian's first visit to India as Iranian president, and the first visit by an Iranian head of state in eight years. His attendance places the Middle East conflict firmly at the centre of the agenda.
BRICS was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers. The grouping, originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has since expanded and now includes Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — three countries with sharply differing positions on the US-Israel war on Iran, which began in February.
"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.
"What was seen until last year as an achievement — the expansion of BRICS — today looks like a big constraint on BRICS," Pant added.
"The war in Iran will provide a stern test of the group's cohesion," said Shilan Shah of Capital Economics, noting the failure of BRICS foreign ministers to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.
India maintains cordial relations with both Iran and Israel while carefully managing its ties with Washington. The country 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 significant fuel supplier in recent years, even as Moscow's war against Ukraine continues.
Putin last visited India in December 2025 and also met Modi in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, earlier 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 Xi, the New Delhi summit marks his first visit to India since 2019 and represents the most significant step yet in a cautious thaw between the two rival neighbours, six years after a deadly military clash along their disputed Himalayan border.
Ties between the nuclear-armed Asian powers have been gradually warming, with flights, visas and high-level contacts slowly being restored. However, deep mistrust remains, with their contested frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry continuing to complicate relations.
