PM Modi met Putin, will meet Xi as India walks BRICS tightrope
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 45‑minute bilateral with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam during the opening day of the BRICS summit, and is slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later that evening. The meetings come as India seeks to balance its ties with both powers while addressing a widening trade deficit with China and broader BRICS cooperation goals.
- ✓Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a 45‑minute bilateral with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam during the opening day of the BRICS summit, and is slated to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later that evening.
- ✓The trade gap with China has surged from roughly $11 billion in favour of Beijing in 2019 to over $112 billion this year.
- ✓The meetings come as India seeks to balance its ties with both powers while addressing a widening trade deficit with China and broader BRICS cooperation goals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin for a brief 45‑minute discussion at the Bharat Mandapam in Delhi, the venue for the opening of the 2026 BRICS summit. The same day, Modi is scheduled to hold a bilateral with Chinese President Xi Jinping, marking the first such meeting in India in seven years, as part of a packed agenda that also includes leaders from Ethiopia, Malaysia, Abu Dhabi and Vietnam.
During the talks, both leaders reiterated a goal of raising bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030, focusing on sectors such as rail, steel and industrial cooperation. The trade gap with China has surged from roughly $11 billion in favour of Beijing in 2019 to over $112 billion this year. In addition, the dialogue covered expanded civil‑nuclear collaboration, continued discounted crude oil supplies for India’s energy security, and a strategic economic dialogue aimed at improving market access for Indian firms in China. The meeting also touched on recent border discussions between India’s NSA Ajit Doval and China’s foreign minister, as well as the tragic loss of five Indian seafarers in a Russian missile strike on a merchant vessel off Odesa.
India, holding the BRICS chair in 2026, is pushing the bloc toward concrete cooperation in trade, finance, energy and critical minerals rather than an anti‑Western stance, and is seeking Russian support for this agenda. The Modi‑Xi encounter is viewed as a litmus test for the cautious thaw in Indo‑Chinese relations that began after the 2024 summit in Kazan, with implications for regional stability, supply‑chain security and the broader geopolitical balance in South Asia.
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| Issuing Authority | The Indian Express National |
|---|---|
| Topic Category | POLITICS |
| Jurisdiction | All India / National |
| Publication Date | 12 September 2026 |