Putin in New Delhi for First BRICS Summit Since Ukraine War — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Putin began a three-day visit to India on September 11, 2026, accompanied by a high-level delegation, to attend the BRICS summit and expand bilateral trade, investment, and energy cooperation with PM Modi.
- The visit marks Putin's first in-person participation at a BRICS summit outside Russia since the Ukraine war began in February 2022.
- The two-day New Delhi summit will focus on boosting collective resilience in food, energy, health, disaster reduction, and critical supply chains, with India positioning the bloc as an anchor for a fragmented geopolitical environment.
- The summit backdrop, per the source, includes the Russia-Ukraine war, the West Asia crisis and Strait of Hormuz blockade, and the Trump administration's trade and tariff policies.
- Putin and Modi are scheduled for wide-ranging bilateral talks on Friday afternoon covering defence, energy, technology, pharmaceuticals, and people-to-people exchanges.
- Other attending leaders include Xi Jinping (China), Masoud Pezeshkian (Iran), Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa), Prabowo Subianto (Indonesia), Abdel Fattah El-Sisi (Egypt), Anwar Ibrahim (Malaysia), Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Abu Dhabi), Abiy Ahmed Ali (Ethiopia), and Le Minh Hung (Vietnam).
Why it matters: India is publicly hosting Putin for his first BRICS outside Russia since the Ukraine invasion, reinforcing New Delhi's refusal to isolate Moscow diplomatically — and the bilateral talks on defence and energy directly contradict Western pressure to sever ties with the Kremlin.
Ask SkimNews
