In Photos: PM Modi, Vladimir Putin hold bilateral meet day before BRICS summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Delhi for a 45-minute bilateral Friday afternoon, a day before the two-day BRICS summit

The meeting – expected to focus on trade, energy, and defence – began at 3.30 pm. Details of the meeting have not been released yet, but oil was likely a big talking point

Russia remains one of India’s largest crude oil suppliers; even though imports fell 26 per cent in August, Delhi still bought roughly two million barrels per day

Another likely key aspect of the talks was enhancing bilateral trade to $100 billion by 2030. Trade between the two countries was nearly $70 billion in FY25

The third focus area is likely defence, including proposals to sell the Sukhoi Su-57 fighter – a fifth-generation jet designed to compete with the US’ F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning

The two leaders may also speak on strengthening civil nuclear ties, including in areas like fuel and life cycle support, as well as support over critical minerals

This is the second time in three weeks that Modi and Putin have met; the previous time was in Kyrgyzstan – on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. On that occasion the Prime Minister delivered a message of peace

This is Putin’s first visit to India since December last year; that was for an India-Russia summit. It is, however, his first in-person attendance at a BRICS summit since the war against Ukraine began in February 2022