BRICS Summit Opens in New Delhi as Wars, U.S. Tensions Test Bloc — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- BRICS leaders convened in New Delhi on Saturday, with Indian PM Modi hosting Russia's Putin, China's Xi, and Iran's Pezeshkian among the bloc's 11 member nations, representing about half the world's population and a significant share of global economic output.
- India deployed thousands of police and paramilitary personnel around the summit venue, with traffic restrictions and diversions in place across New Delhi.
- Putin told the BRICS Business Forum on Friday that the grouping was "not against anyone" and that "we are in favor of our interests," signaling Moscow's pitch for cooperation rather than confrontation.
- Iran's Pezeshkian backed expanding trade in national currencies among BRICS members to reduce reliance on Western financial systems, as Tehran faces sweeping U.S. sanctions and a blockade.
- India is seeking to balance longstanding ties with Russia and Iran against expanding economic and defense relations with the U.S. and Europe; Modi met Putin and Pezeshkian separately on Friday, and is set to hold talks with Xi Saturday aimed at consolidating a diplomatic thaw after 2020 border tensions.
- BRICS unity already fractured in May, when foreign ministers failed to agree on a joint statement over the Iran war, forcing India to issue a chair's summary instead — a concrete test of whether Modi can secure consensus this time.
- The bloc faces pressure from wars in Ukraine and the Middle East plus rising U.S.-China tensions, with members navigating differing positions on conflict and on relations with Washington.
Why it matters: BRICS now represents about half the world's population, so even a chair's summary rather than a joint statement — as happened in May — signals the bloc cannot paper over the Iran war divide. India's ability to extract a consensus statement from 11 members with competing US ties is the concrete measure of whether BRICS can function as a counterweight to Western-led institutions or remains a forum that talks past itself.
Ask SkimNews
