Putin lands in India for BRICs summit, shadowed by Iran and Ukraine wars

Russian, Iranian leaders due to hold talks with India’s Modi at summit dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian shake hands during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek on September 1, 2026 [Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool/AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in the Indian capital on Friday ahead of an 11-member BRICS summit set to be dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as economic challenges.

Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are due to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to meet Modi on the sidelines of the two-day meeting.

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Putin arrived at Palam Air Force Station in New Delhi, where he was greeted by India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh, according to footage broadcast by Russia’s Ria Novosti news agency.

Posters of a beaming Modi lined streets across New Delhi to welcome leaders, with heavy deployments of security forces across the capital and widespread traffic restrictions in central districts. Delhi police have urged people to be patient and cooperative.

BRICS, which stands for the original members of the grouping – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by Western powers.

It has since expanded, and now includes Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – three countries with sharply differing positions on the US-Israel war on Iran launched in February.

“The Gulf conflict is going to be the central fault line this time during the BRICS summit,” Harsh V Pant of India’s Observer Research Foundation told the AFP news agency.

“What was seen until last year as an achievement – the expansion of BRICS – today looks like a big constraint on BRICS,” Pant said.

It will be Pezeshkian’s first visit to India as Iranian president, and will put the Middle East conflict firmly on the agenda. The Iranian president’s visit marks the first in eight years for the role.

“The war in Iran will provide a stern test of the (expanded) group’s cohesion,” Shilan Shah of Capital Economics told AFP, noting the failure of the BRICS foreign ministers to agree on a joint statement when they met in New Delhi in May.

India maintains cordial relations with Iran and Israel, but is also careful to strike a delicate balance in its ties with Washington.

India has navigated the energy crisis caused by the war on Iran in part by turning to Russia, one of its most important strategic partners and its most controversial fuel supplier in recent years, as Moscow’s war against Ukraine drags on.

Putin last visited India in December 2025, but he also met Modi in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, this month.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar visited Kyiv this month, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “grateful to India for its commitment to ending this unjust war”.

For China’s Xi, it will be his first visit to India since 2019, and marks the biggest step yet in a cautious thaw between the rival neighbours, six years after a deadly military clash along their disputed Himalayan border.

Ties between the nuclear-armed Asian giants have been warming again recently, with flights, visas and high-level contacts gradually being restored.

However, deep mistrust remains, with their contested frontier, a widening trade deficit and strategic rivalry still complicating ties.

俄罗斯和伊朗领导人将与印度总理莫迪举行峰会，峰会主要议题是中东和乌克兰战争。

2026年9月1日，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京和伊朗总统马苏德·佩泽什基扬在比什凯克举行的上海合作组织（上合组织）峰会期间会晤并握手。[Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool/AFP]

俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京周五抵达印度首都，出席由11个成员国组成的金砖国家峰会。此次峰会预计将主要讨论中东和乌克兰战争以及经济挑战。

普京和伊朗总统马苏德·佩泽什基扬将与印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪举行会谈，而中国国家主席习近平预计也将在为期两天的会议期间与莫迪会面。

列表1/4：特朗普称普京希望达成协议结束乌克兰战争

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联合国特使警告安理会，也门战争已进入“危险阶段”（名单共4人，此为第3人）。

伊朗声称在霍尔木兹海峡附近捕获了一架美国“帆船无人机”（共4条记录中的第4条）

据俄罗斯新闻社（Ria Novosti）播出的画面显示，普京抵达新德里帕拉姆空军基地，受到印度外交国务部长基尔蒂·瓦尔丹·辛格的迎接。

新德里街头张贴着莫迪笑容满面的海报，迎接各国领导人的到来。首都各地部署了大量安保力量，中心城区也实施了广泛的交通管制。德里警方呼吁民众保持耐心并予以配合。

金砖国家（BRICS）由巴西、俄罗斯、印度、中国和南非五个创始成员国组成，成立于2009年，旨在为主要新兴经济体提供一个论坛，使其能够在西方大国主导的机构中拥有更大的影响力。

此后，该组织不断扩大，现在包括伊朗、沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国——这三个国家对美国和以色列于 2 月份发动的伊朗战争持截然不同的立场。

印度观察家研究基金会的哈什·V·潘特告诉法新社：“海湾冲突将成为此次金砖国家峰会的核心断层线。”

潘特表示：“直到去年还被视为一项成就的金砖国家扩张，如今看来却成了金砖国家发展的一大制约因素。”

这将是佩泽什基安作为伊朗总统首次访问印度，中东冲突问题也将成为此行的重要议题。此次访问也是佩泽什基安担任伊朗总统八年来首次访印。

“伊朗战争将对（扩大后的）金砖国家的凝聚力构成严峻考验，”凯投宏观(Capital Economics)的希兰·沙阿(Shilan Shah)告诉法新社，并指出金砖国家外长在5月份于新德里举行会议时未能就联合声明达成一致。

印度与伊朗和以色列保持友好关系，但同时也小心翼翼地在与华盛顿的关系中寻求微妙的平衡。

印度应对伊朗战争造成的能源危机，部分原因是转向俄罗斯寻求帮助。俄罗斯是印度最重要的战略伙伴之一，也是近年来最具争议的燃料供应国，因为莫斯科对乌克兰的战争仍在持续。

普京上次访问印度是在 2025 年 12 月，但他本月也在吉尔吉斯斯坦首都比什凯克会见了莫迪。

印度外交部长苏杰生本月访问了基辅，乌克兰总统泽连斯基表示，他“感谢印度致力于结束这场不正义的战争”。

对于中国国家主席习近平来说，这将是他自 2019 年以来首次访问印度，也是在两国在喜马拉雅山脉争议边界发生致命军事冲突六年之后，这两个宿敌邻国之间谨慎解冻进程中迈出的最大一步。

近期，这两个拥有核武器的亚洲大国之间的关系再次升温，航班、签证和高层接触正在逐步恢复。

然而，双方深层次的不信任依然存在，存在争议的边界、不断扩大的贸易逆差和战略竞争仍然使两国关系复杂化。