Modi-Putin meeting ahead of BRICS Summit: Su-57, nuclear energy, trade top agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Friday, a day ahead of the summit of BRICS leaders in New Delhi on September 12-13m Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed on 8 September.

India is all set to host the 18th BRICS Summit in the national capital this weekend. The high-profile Summit, scheduled for 12–13 September 2026 at Bharat Mandapam, brings together leaders of BRICS Member and Partner Countries, as well as Outreach Invitees.

“Our two leaders are in a very close personal contact, they are very pragmatic… and they are as sincere as to be able to discuss in a very open and constructive way the most sensitive issues on the global agenda and our bilateral relations,” Peskov said in an online interaction with India-based journalists, organised by Russian media outlet Sputnik India.

There has been no official word from India on the bilateral meeting between the two leader yet.

India is the BRICS Chair for the 2026 edition. The BRICS Chairship is guided by the theme: “Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability.”

Peskov described BRICS as a flexible club organised around policy and security, economics and finance, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

At the two-day Summit, the leaders will also exchange views on strengthening intra-BRICS cooperation on common priorities and share perspectives on global and regional matters of mutual importance.

As many as 350 meetings and high-level engagements have already been held in over 25 cities across India to further strengthen the BRICS strategic partnership under India’s Chairmanship this year. A final meeting of theBRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors will be held in Mumbai on September 9-10.

Modi and Putin recently met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 31 August. At the meeting, Modi underlined India’s message on peace in the context of the Ukraine conflict.

“Every day spent perpetuating war pushes humanity backwards, and every step taken towards peace fills the whole of humanity with new hope and enthusiasm. We must move from endless war towards the end of war, which is very necessary for the well-being of humanity,” Modi said in his televised opening remarks.

What is on Putin’s Agenda?

“We have no doubt that the summit will be successful. Russia, we are doing our best to contribute to further development of BRICS cooperation in the three main pillars of our interaction. So, those are policy and security. economy and finance, and cultural and humanitarian contexts. So, we are supporting idea of inviting new countries to join different formats within BRICS,” the Kremlin spokesperson said.

Sale of Su-57 fighter aircraft

Peskov said Russia is awaiting negotiations with India on setting up new nuclear power plants. He also said that the sale of Su-57 fighter aircraft to India is also on the agenda.

The Kremlin spokesperson stressed the need for cooperation in the financial sector, alleging that some countries were using their currencies as a tool of political oppression.

“The cooperation space within Brics financial sphere is of great importance. Russia recently reached a level of 90 percent of all the payments, all the transactions with BRICS nations being made in national currencies, it’s very important. It’s not because we are aiming for de-dollarization, for getting rid of US dollars, he said.

To the contrary, Peskov said, Russia is pen to to every acceptable methods of payments. “But you know that certain countries are using some national currencies as a tool for political oppression. They are introducing sanctions based on their national currencies. So, if they don’t let us use their money, we use our own money,” he said.

Who all are attending BRICS Summit?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the summit. Aapart from Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping is also expected to attend, though China has not formally confirmed his participation.

If Xi visits, it would be his first trip to India since the 2019 informal summit in Mamallapuram with Modi. A Modi-Xi bilateral meeting on the sidelines is also widely anticipated.

The Chinese leader’s delegation could run to around 400 officials, roughly double the 2019 contingent, according to some media reports. There has been intense diplomacy between China and India, the latest being the 25th round of Special Representative talks, held in Beijing on 28 August, between National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Who else are attending?

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

-Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

-Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto

-Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian

-Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

-Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

-Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,

-Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

-Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul

-United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will likely take part, though a formal announcement is pending.