Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held separate talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in New Delhi on Friday, seeking to strengthen bilateral ties ahead of the BRICS summit this weekend.
The BRICS summit, chaired by India this year, is a grouping of major emerging markets and developing countries. The group’s acronym comes from the names of its founding members in 2006 — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which joined soon after. It has since expanded to include 11 countries that make up about half the world’s population.
Modi and Putin discussed cooperation in political, economic, defense, energy and other sectors. They also spoke about India-Russia engagement in BRICS and exchanged views on regional and global issues, including Middle East conflicts, India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Modi thanked Pezeshkian for Iran’s high-level participation in BRICS, “despite the challenging circumstances,” the ministry said, referring to the Iran war. The two leaders, who had met earlier this month in Kyrgyzstan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, also discussed bilateral ties, the ministry said.
The summit on Saturday and Sunday will also include Chinese President Xi Jinping. The BRICS nations have been facing a test of their unity against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East, as well as rising tensions between the United States and China.
Putin’s visit highlights a challenge for India
India has for decades maintained close defense and economic ties with Russia and has called for dialogue and diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine while maintaining relations with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
India has declined to join Western efforts to isolate Moscow over Russia’s war on Ukraine. New Delhi is also pursuing major trade and investment agreements with the US and Europe.
