New Delhi will host the BRICS summit on September 12 and 13, and attention is focusing not only on the formal agenda but on the possibility of a trilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. A joint Modi–Xi–Putin meeting has not taken place formally since their 2019 encounter on the sidelines of the G20 in Osaka, and any reunion of the three leaders in New Delhi would carry important diplomatic weight amid shifting global pressures.
The three leaders shared the same diplomatic stage recently at the SCO summit in Bishkek, where footage of Putin and Xi approaching Modi and the Indian prime minister shaking hands with both drew widespread attention. Modi held a bilateral meeting with Putin a day before the SCO gathering and had a brief interaction with Xi on the sidelines, but those informal moments do not confirm a formal RIC trilateral is planned during BRICS.
The last formal trilateral in Osaka came at a time of rising trade tensions, with the United States imposing tariffs on Chinese goods and changing India’s trade preferences. After that 2019 meeting, Modi emphasised the need for discussions among the three countries on economic, political and defence issues. Then-foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said the leaders had also talked about broader multilateral challenges and the importance of preserving globalisation and a rules-based trading system while resisting protectionism.
The RIC — Russia, India, China — framework has long been seen as a forum for the three Eurasian powers to address regional and global questions. But the dynamic between New Delhi and Beijing changed sharply after the 2020 Galwan clash, which eroded trust and stalled high-level ties. Still, recent years have seen tentative steps toward normalisation: Modi and Xi met in Kazan in 2024, India’s national security adviser visited China for border talks, and external affairs ministers met on SCO sidelines, creating more diplomatic room for engagement even as key differences persist.
A formal Modi–Xi–Putin meeting in New Delhi could revive the RIC dialogue at a moment when all three capitals face geopolitical and economic pressures. For India, engaging both Moscow and Beijing fits its stated effort to maintain strategic autonomy. Any such trilateral would also be scrutinised closely in Washington and other capitals for what it signals about responses to external pressure and global alignments.
For now, organisers and observers caution that a full trilateral is not confirmed; bilateral or separate meetings among the leaders remain a distinct possibility during the BRICS summit. Whether Modi, Xi and Putin will sit together in New Delhi remains an open question with potential implications beyond the two-day summit.
Original Source: https://www.firstpost.com/world/after-sco-handshake-will-modi-xi-and-putin-hold-a-trilateral-at-brics-2026-in-delhi-14042429.html
Category: India
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Publish Date: 2026-09-01 17:07:00
