Putin, Xi, Pezeshkian Gather in New Delhi for BRICS Summit Dominated by Iran Crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi on Friday for the BRICS summit, landing at an Indian Air Force base where he was received by Indian Foreign Secretary Kirti Vardhan Singh, according to Russian state agency RIA Novosti. The summit, hosted at the Bharat Mandapam complex — the same venue as the 2023 G20 gathering — brings together leaders of the non-Western world, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, alongside UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with both Putin and Pezeshkian during the event. New Delhi has announced major road closures across the capital over the weekend to accommodate the motorcades of visiting delegations. BRICS, founded in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in Western-dominated institutions, is marking dual milestones at this summit while facing a test of internal cohesion. The meeting is dominated by the crisis in the Middle East, with the war against Iran straining the bloc's unity.

Global Impact

Geopolitically, the summit represents the most significant gathering of non-Western leaders since the bloc's expansion, and its handling of the Iran crisis will signal whether BRICS can act as a diplomatic counterweight or remains a symbolic forum. Economically, any progress on alternative payment mechanisms or de-dollarization language would carry long-term implications for dollar-denominated trade and EM capital flows.