Global Governance — 2026-09-12

BRICS Summit Opens in New Delhi with Putin and Pezeshkian Calling Out US Dominance as India and China Compete for Bloc Leadership

BLUFDespite warm atmospherics, a concrete India-China border or trade-deficit breakthrough at the September 12–13 sideline meeting is unlikely, and internal Gulf-war divisions will probably prevent consensus summit language on Iran.

Leaders from the 11-member BRICS bloc convened in New Delhi on Friday and Saturday for the 18th summit, hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian all in attendance 1. Addressing the bloc's business forum, Putin accused Western nations of using sanctions, sabotage of pipelines, and vessel seizures to reclaim "former leadership," noting G7 output now trails BRICS's roughly 40 percent share of global GDP 2. Pezeshkian told the forum that US sanctions had entered a "more dangerous phase" following military aggression against Iran and called for expanded local-currency trade and New Development Bank financing 23. Modi and Putin discussed the Ukraine and Iran wars and pledged continued defense and energy talks. Xi's visit, his first to India in seven years, is expected to include sideline talks with Modi on the border dispute and trade deficit. The bloc remains split after foreign ministers failed to agree on a joint statement on the Iran war in May, and member UAE suspended trade with fellow member Iran in August 14.

Analysis
Xi's first India visit in seven years and the Modi-Putin bilateral will likely produce warmer atmospherics and defense/energy commitments through the September 13 close, but a substantive India-China border or trade-deficit breakthrough is unlikely in that same window. The bloc's unreconciled split over the Gulf war since May's foreign ministers' meeting, sharpened by the UAE's August suspension of trade with Iran, points toward a diluted or absent joint statement rather than consensus language. This is assessed with high confidence given convergent primary reporting, drawing on shared AFP/Reuters wire feeds, on both the ministerial rift and New Delhi's substance-over-spectacle framing, though independent verification of leader intent remains limited. Moscow's and Tehran's rhetoric may serve primarily as domestic and bloc-internal messaging rather than a coordinated policy push. Only a concrete Xi-Modi border or trade announcement would force Washington and regional capitals to reassess the pace of Sino-Indian rapprochement and its effect on Quad coordination; atmospherics alone leave current assumptions of a slow, contingent thaw intact.

4 sources