Putin and fellow BRICS leaders set stage for New Delhi summit: As it happened

India-Russia relations have grown “much deeper, much stronger” despite geopolitical tensions, former Indian Institute of Foreign Trade Vice Chancellor Rakesh Mohan Joshi has told RT. He said the partnership is based on trust and has been strengthened by expanding energy and trade ties.

Joshi described the relationship as mutually beneficial, pointing to Russian oil supplies and Indian goods sold to Russia, and said increasing Indian exports could help balance bilateral trade.

The mistakes made by the European elites are bound to further affect the energy sector in the region, the Russian president has said. Putin predicted a further price hike to be sparked by alarming rates of gas extraction from storage reservoirs within the EU.

“They believe it is more profitable to withdraw gas from storage today that was purchased at lower prices, and as for tomorrow – we’ll see what happens,” Putin told reporters.

The Ukraine crisis was provoked by the West, the Russian president has said. Sending troops from European nations to Ukraine in any capacity would mean a direct conflict with Russia, he warned.

“They are currently talking about considering how to send troops to Ukrainian territory. That means war with Russia,” he said.

Europe’s current political, security and economic problems are the result of “systemic mistakes” by Western globalists, Putin has said.

He added that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, globalists developed a sense that they could act with impunity, but their mistakes have accumulated “like a snowball.”

Putin is speaking to reporters in New Delhi following a series of meetings on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.

The Global South could become the defining theme of the BRICS summit as emerging economies seek greater resilience in a changing global order, geopolitical expert Atul Aneja has told RT. He pointed to food and energy security and new transport corridors as key areas for cooperation.

Aneja also said an “alternative financial system” is emerging through greater use of national currencies, currency swaps and digital payments, with BRICS “at the heart of it.”

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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has exclusively told RT in New Delhi that closer ties with BRICS would not prevent Serbia from pursuing EU membership, describing the two as fundamentally different groups.

“BRICS is a club of countries that share a common vision” of a multipolar world and equal cooperation “free from pressure by third countries,” he said. “The two do not exclude each other.”

Peskov added that while BRICS itself cannot perform a peacekeeping role in Kosovo, individual member states have influence and are prepared to help normalize the situation in the region, which he described as “still explosive.”

Serbia is not a BRICS member, but has expressed interest in closer cooperation with the group.

Putin has met New Development Bank (NDB) President Dilma Rousseff on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, praising the lender’s contribution to the group.

“The bank is working energetically” and expanding its activities in key areas, Putin said, adding that Russia wants its programs to grow and “cover more sectors” across BRICS economies.

Established by the five original BRICS countries in 2015, the NDB finances infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging and developing economies and has approved roughly $43 billion in lending. It has since expanded to ten members, most recently admitting Uzbekistan in June.

Traditional multilateral economic forums have failed to meet the aspirations of developing and emerging economies, geopolitical policy expert Heena Makhija has told RT.

“BRICS provides a great platform to gain consensus on what lies ahead for such emerging economies,” she said. Makhija added that closer cooperation on digital and cross-border payments could eventually pave the way for a broader financial mechanism among the group’s members.

Putin has held bilateral talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on the sidelines of the BRICS summit, praising the “genuinely friendly” relations between the two countries.

He welcomed Malaysia’s participation in BRICS as a partner country and described the group as a forum helping shape a “new, just and democratic world order.”

New Delhi, India, September 11, 2026. © Sputnik / Kristina Solovyova