BRICS Drops Ukraine From New Delhi Declaration — SkimNews
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- BRICS concluded its 18th summit in New Delhi with a signed leaders declaration, overcoming divisions that had blocked a joint statement from its foreign ministers just months earlier
- India hosted the summit; attendees included Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, while Malaysia's Anwar Ibrahim sang a 1960s Bollywood hit at the leaders' dinner
- The declaration dramatically weakened its Middle East language compared to the 2025 Rio text — dropping its condemnation of strikes against Iran since 13 June 2025 and replacing it with "deep concern" and calls for "maximum restraint"
- All references to the Ukraine conflict were dropped from the New Delhi text, the first omission since Russia's 2022 invasion, despite consistent mention in prior BRICS declarations
- The text added a new paragraph expressing "deep concern" over U.S. blockade measures against Cuba, now a BRICS "partner country" — a move the source frames as a clear nod to Havana
- Israel was named and criticized for its actions in Lebanon, with strong Gaza language maintained, but the U.S.-initiated "Board of Peace" went unmentioned even though BRICS members Egypt, Indonesia, and the UAE sit on it
- The declaration carried sharp criticism of unilateral coercive measures and secondary sanctions, language the source identifies as a direct dig at the United States and its European allies
Why it matters: India pulled off a signed text from ten deeply divided members, including two — Iran and the UAE — actively exchanging missile barrages. But the source characterizes the outcome as "more a relief than a victory," since consensus required dropping all Ukraine references for the first time since 2022 and stripping the 2025 Rio declaration's explicit condemnation of strikes on Iran. BRICS demonstrated it can still produce unified communiqués, but only by avoiding any language that would directly confront Washington or its own warring members.
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