Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in New Delhi on Friday for a three-day visit built around the 18th BRICS Summit, a gathering that analysts say is likely to be overshadowed by the wars in Iran and Ukraine as much as by the economic cooperation it was designed to showcase.
Putin’s arrival, alongside that of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and an expected visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping, has turned the Indian capital into the centre of high-stakes diplomacy as the 11-member bloc marks its 20th anniversary under India’s chairship.
BRICS Summit 2026: Why Is Putin In India?
Putin touched down at Palam Air Force Station in New Delhi early Friday, where he was received by India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, according to footage broadcast by Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency. His itinerary for the day includes an address to the plenary session of the annual BRICS Business Forum, a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and a joint visit with Modi to the INNOPROM industrial exhibition, organised by the two countries’ trade ministries.
Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russia’s TASS news agency that, as is customary at such gatherings, several further bilateral meetings had also been planned on the sidelines. The main summit sessions formally open on Saturday and run through Sunday at Bharat Mandapam.
BRICS Summit 2026: Who Else Is Attending?
Pezeshkian’s trip marks his first visit to India as Iranian president and the first by an Iranian head of state in eight years, putting the Middle East conflict firmly on the summit’s agenda. Xi is also expected in New Delhi, his first visit since 2019 and the clearest sign yet of a cautious thaw between the two countries, six years after a deadly clash along their disputed Himalayan border.
Putin is separately due to hold talks with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during the gathering.
BRICS Summit 2026: Why Will Iran War Dominate Discussions?
BRICS has expanded significantly since its founding by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2009, now also including Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia, three of which hold sharply differing positions on the US-Israel war on Iran that began in February.
Harsh V Pant of India’s Observer Research Foundation told AFP that the Gulf conflict was going to be the central fault line this time during the summit, adding that the bloc’s expansion, once viewed as an achievement, now looked like a significant constraint. Shilan Shah of Capital Economics told AFP that the war would provide a stern test of the expanded group’s cohesion, pointing to the failure of BRICS foreign ministers to agree a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.
BRICS Summit 2026: How Is India Balancing Ties?
India has sought to maintain cordial relations with both Iran and Israel while carefully managing its relationship with Washington throughout the conflict. New Delhi has also leaned more heavily on Russia, one of its most important strategic partners, to help offset the energy disruption caused by the Iran war, even as Moscow’s own war against Ukraine continues.
Putin last visited India in December 2025 and met Modi again this month on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek. India’s Foreign Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, also visited Kyiv this month, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was grateful to India for its commitment to ending this unjust war.
BRICS Summit 2026: What Is On The Agenda?
Beyond the Iran and Ukraine conflicts, this year’s summit is expected to address resilient global supply chains, cross-border payment integration, greater use of national currencies, digital trade, artificial intelligence, energy security, climate resilience and reform of multilateral financial institutions, alongside expansion of the bloc’s New Development Bank.
Putin’s bilateral talks with Modi are also expected to touch on defence, pharmaceuticals and people-to-people ties between the two countries, while US President Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policies are likely to feature prominently in wider discussions among BRICS leaders.
BRICS Summit 2026: How Is Delhi Preparing?
New Delhi has mounted a major security operation for the summit, with heavy deployments of police and paramilitary forces across the capital and widespread traffic restrictions in central districts, while posters of a beaming Modi have gone up along streets to welcome visiting leaders.
Delhi police have urged residents to remain patient and cooperative as the city manages the disruption. With so many competing conflicts and rivalries converging on a single summit, officials and analysts alike say holding the expanded bloc together, let alone producing a unified statement, may prove the most difficult task of the gathering.
