PM Modi, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin: The BRICS moment in pics

Some of the day's most telling moments brought Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping together with PM Modi.

In Short

• Putin draws attention on first day of BRICS Summit
• Xi Jinping takes spotlight on second day of meeting
• Photos show cordiality despite disputes and tensions

Vladimir Putin commanded attention on the first day of the BRICS Summit in New Delhi. On Saturday, it was Xi Jinping’s turn. But some of the day’s most telling moments brought both leaders together with PM Narendra Modi.

Photographs from the summit showed the three leaders smiling together. In one, PM Modi stood between Xi and Putin, holding their hands. The images conveyed an easy familiarity, even as the relationships behind them remain complicated.

It was a consequential day for India. BRICS leaders issued a joint declaration condemning the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack. PM Modi also met Xi on Indian soil for the first time since their 2019 summit in Mamallapuram.

The two leaders had met abroad in the intervening years, including in Kazan in 2024, but Xi had not returned to India since the Galwan Valley clash.

Putin’s presence was significant in its own right. This was his first in-person appearance at a BRICS summit outside Russia since the war in Ukraine began in February 2022.

He last visited India in December 2025 and met PM Modi again on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek earlier this month.

That history gave the photographs their force. India and China are working to stabilise ties, but their boundary dispute remains unresolved. India’s relationship with Russia has endured through the Ukraine war, even as New Delhi has strengthened its partnerships with the United States and the West.

None of those tensions vanished as the three leaders smiled and spoke together. What the images showed was their willingness to engage publicly and warmly despite them.

For PM Modi, the moments reflected the balancing act at the heart of India’s foreign policy. New Delhi has kept close ties with Moscow through the Ukraine war, sought to repair relations with Beijing after the Galwan clash and continued to deepen its partnerships with the United States and the West.

India has maintained that it is not passively neutral in these conflicts but stands for peace and dialogue, while resisting pressure to join any one geopolitical camp.

The photographs showed how the Prime Minister has carried that approach into the summit: engaging Xi and Putin with visible warmth without allowing either relationship to define India’s position toward the others.

The display of bonhomie was a reminder of the diplomatic space New Delhi seeks to preserve, even as its differences with both countries remain unresolved.

- Ends