Dr. Indrani Talukdar | Russia Specialist, Chintan Research Foundation | Former Faculty at Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service |
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s presence at the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi produced an important diplomatic dividend for Russia. At a time when Moscow remains under extensive Western sanctions and faces continuing confrontation with Europe, the summit also the Shanghai Corporation Council, offered Putin a major international platform from which to project Russia not as an isolated power, but as an influential participant in an emerging multipolar order.
The setting itself mattered. Speaking at the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi on September 11, Putin addressed a constituency representing some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and a substantial share of global energy, trade and population. His message was broader than the Ukraine conflict. He presented Russia as economically resilient, increasingly connected to the Global South and capable of contributing to energy, food security and new transport networks.
Sanctions as a Narrative of Resilience
One of Putin’s most striking claims was that Russia had been subjected to more than 30,000 sanctions and restrictive measures. Rather than presenting sanctions simply as a constraint, he used them to reinforce a narrative of Russian economic adaptation and diversification.
The message was politically important. Moscow sought to demonstrate that sanctions had not produced the international isolation that their architects had anticipated. Russia, in Putin’s formulation, was deepening relationships with what it described as reliable partners while developing alternative economic and logistical channels.
This narrative found a receptive setting in BRICS, where several members such as Iran have themselves expressed concern about the growing use of unilateral sanctions and coercive economic measures. The New Delhi Declaration’s opposition to unilateral coercive measures and its emphasis on a more representative global economic order provided a wider political context favourable to Moscow’s argument.
Energy, Food and Connectivity
Putin also used the Business Forum to underline Russia’s continuing importance to global energy and food security. This is central to Moscow’s strategy of remaining economically relevant despite Western restrictions.
Equally significant was his emphasis on connectivity. The International North–South Transport Corridor and the Arctic Transport Corridor represent Russia’s effort to position itself within emerging Eurasian trade routes. These corridors offer Moscow opportunities to deepen links with Asian, West Asian and other non-Western markets while reducing dependence on routes and infrastructure traditionally connected to Western economies.
The Arctic is particularly important. The growing significance of the Northern Sea Route gives Russia a potentially valuable strategic and commercial asset connecting Europe and Asia. By placing the Arctic alongside the North–South corridor, Putin was effectively presenting Russia as a geographical bridge within an evolving Eurasian economic system.
Thus, the Russian message in Delhi was not simply that Moscow had survived sanctions. It was that Russia was helping shape alternative networks of trade, energy and connectivity.
Putin’s Message to Europe
The second major gain was diplomatic. Putin used the Delhi platform to directly challenge the narrative that Russia represents a threat to European countries.
He stated that Russia had no intention of threatening Europe and argued that Moscow had “no grounds for any conflict with Europe”. He referred to the post-Second World War settlement, developments following the collapse of the Soviet Union and what Russia regards as the principles of international law and the UN Charter.
Whether European governments accept this interpretation is another matter. But the significance lies in Putin being able to articulate it from a BRICS platform in India, before an audience extending well beyond the Western political sphere.
In effect, Moscow gained an additional diplomatic channel through which to communicate its European security narrative to the wider Global South.
The Ukraine Question: Moscow’s Biggest Diplomatic Gain
The most consequential outcome, however, was the absence of a specific reference to Ukraine or the Russia–Ukraine war in the New Delhi Declaration. The Black Sea conflict was likewise not turned into a collective BRICS issue.
This should not be interpreted as BRICS endorsing Russia’s position. The grouping contains sharply differing interests and foreign-policy orientations. A consensus formulation on Ukraine would have been extremely difficult and could have exposed internal divisions.
Yet precisely because Russia avoided a collective BRICS condemnation, Moscow gained diplomatic space.
For Russia, this matters. The BRICS platform did not become another forum for diplomatic isolation. Instead, Moscow emerged from Delhi with its membership and role within the expanding Global South grouping intact, while Putin was able to present Russia’s political and economic narrative directly to a large international audience.
What Russia Took Away from Delhi
Russia therefore gained more than favourable optics from the summit. It gained visibility, diplomatic space and an opportunity to reinforce its economic relevance.
Putin demonstrated that Russia remains important to discussions on energy and food security, connectivity and Arctic development. He portrayed sanctions as an impetus for diversification rather than isolation. He placed the North–South and Arctic corridors within a broader vision of Eurasian connectivity. And, critically, he was able to communicate directly to the Global South that Moscow does not consider itself to be at war with Europe as such.
Most importantly, the New Delhi Declaration did not allow Ukraine to become the defining issue of BRICS.
This does not mean that Russia “won” the summit. Nor does it mean that BRICS has adopted Moscow’s worldview. But in diplomatic terms, Russia came away from Delhi without the political costs it could have faced from a divided or condemnatory BRICS statement, while gaining an important platform to advance its economic and geopolitical narrative. For Moscow, that is no small achievement.
The larger significance of Delhi is therefore that Russia remains capable of operating within a changing international system in which Western pressure and non-Western engagement coexist. Hence, it shows that Putin represented Russia in Delhi as a country under sanctions; he left having demonstrated that Russia still has partners, markets, corridors, energy leverage and diplomatic space.
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