Russia’s Vladimir Putin arrives in India for summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders from Iran yesterday arrived in India for talks ahead of a BRICS summit dominated by conflict and economic challenges, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) also expected to attend.

Wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as global trade turbulence and oil, are expected to be on the agenda at the two-day annual summit that opens today, when Xi is scheduled to arrive.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to meet with Putin yesterday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin disembarks from a plane at Palam Airforce Station near New Delhi yesterday.

Photo: EPA / Vladimir Smirnov / Sputnik / Kremlin / Pool

“One should engage in debate and friendship only with the virtuous, and nothing whatsoever with the unvirtuous,” Modi wrote in a social media message in Sanskrit to welcome leaders to the 11-nation summit.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who also arrived in New Delhi yesterday and was to hold talks with Modi, said that “BRICS was established to counter unilateralism,” Tehran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

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

“China stands ready to work with India ... by strengthening communication, enhancing cooperation and properly handling differences,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said.

Tibetans protested in New Delhi — exiles, like their Buddhist leader the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since fleeing a Chinese crackdown in 1959 — waving placards against Xi’s visit.