Overnight coverage confirmed Vladimir Putin's late arrival in Delhi for the September 12-13 BRICS summit, with Xi Jinping expected Saturday.
Morning shifted to live pre-summit diplomacy. S. Jaishankar opened the Business Forum warning of churn in global order. Modi then held a 45-minute bilateral with Putin at Bharat Mandapam, followed by a joint visit to the INNOPROM exhibition in the same car. Listed agenda was a $100 billion trade target, energy, nuclear power, defence including Su-57, Ukraine and safety of Indian seafarers. Modi gifted a Russian Thirukkural translation.
Afternoon moved to the Forum stage with Modi, Putin and Iranian President Pezeshkian, where Putin questioned G7 relevance and Modi cited BRICS as 40% of global GDP and urged free navigation. Modi later met Pezeshkian for a second time in two weeks and UN chief Guterres, as negotiators worked on the Delhi Declaration.