After the Summit: What the New Delhi Declaration Tells Us About the Road Ahead
I. The Principles Laid Down
In addition to commemorating twenty years of an unexpected alliance, the leaders of eleven countries gathered in Bharat Mandapam this September for the 18th BRICS Summit in an effort to codify a worldview. The 140-point New Delhi Declaration, which was unanimously adopted on September 12, 2026, with the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability," is based on a few enduring principles: respect for one another, sovereign equality, solidarity, democracy, openness, inclusivity, cooperation, and consensus.
Although these terms are not new to the BRICS lexicon, their emphasis this year felt very deliberate. Through the BRICS Leaders' Statement on the Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, the Declaration formally incorporated artificial intelligence into its agenda, pushed for fair geographic representation in the UN Secretariat and other multilateral organisations, and demanded a realignment of shareholding at international financial institutions to address the historical under-representation of the Global South. It called for compatible international standards on supply-chain security and addressed ICT security, cybercrime, data protection, and the growing threat of deepfakes and disinformation. Leaders highlighted the condemnation of terrorism, particularly the Pahalgam incident, as a collective zero-tolerance position. Taken together, these are not merely diplomatic courtesies, they are the scaffolding of an alternative vision for how a multipolar world might govern itself.
II. The Conversation That Followed
No declaration of this scale escapes scrutiny, and the days following the summit produced a spirited, occasionally sceptical, conversation among policy circles, economists and diplomats. Commentators were quick to note what the Declaration deliberately avoided: it named no country on the more combustible geopolitical fault lines, choosing studied ambiguity over confrontation, even as it acknowledged simmering tensions in West Asia. This restraint was itself read as a signal, that a bloc as internally diverse as Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the UAE can only move forward on the strength of what unites it, not what divides it.
Analysts also debated the substance behind the rhetoric of de-dollarisation and financial reform, questioning whether a bloc still negotiating its own internal consensus on trade and currency mechanisms could realistically reshape institutions built over eight decades. Others, more sympathetic to the Global South's grievances, argued that the very act of convening over four hundred meetings across thirty Indian cities, bringing together ministers, parliamentarians, technocrats, businesses and citizens, was itself a form of institution-building, patient and unglamorous, but far more durable than a single communiqué. The debate, in essence, was not about whether BRICS had said the right things, but whether saying them, repeatedly and jointly, could eventually translate into structural change.
III. India's Outlook
For India, the Summit was less an isolated diplomatic event than the culmination of a year-long chairship built around a deliberate proposition: that representation without capacity is hollow, and that political voice must be matched by economic and institutional readiness. This is the thread that ran through India's engagement, from its insistence on resilient and diversified supply chains, to its championing of the Global South's right to a genuine seat at the table, not merely a symbolic one.
India used the platform to advance an agenda that was pragmatic rather than purely aspirational, referencing its own hosting of the AI Impact Summit earlier in the year, pushing for common standards on cybersecurity and data governance, and positioning itself as a credible bridge between the ambitions of emerging economies and the operational discipline needed to realise them. The message India sent, deliberately or otherwise, was one of quiet confidence: that a nation navigating its own extraordinary digital transformation, from public digital infrastructure to an expanding AI ecosystem has both the standing and the responsibility to help shape the norms that will govern technology, trade and trust for the rest of the developing world.
IV. The Message and the Road Ahead
The abiding message of the New Delhi Declaration, stripped of its diplomatic phrasing, is this: the architecture of global governance was built for a world that no longer exists, and the countries most affected by that mismatch intend to keep saying so, together, and increasingly, on their own terms. Whether that translates into reformed institutions or remains an evolving conversation will depend on follow-through, not further declarations.
Speaking to the significance of this moment, Major Vineet Kumar, Founder and Global President of CyberPeace, observed that "India today sits at the forefront of a generational shift, not just in economic growth, but in shaping the digital trust and cyber-resilience frameworks that the rest of the Global South will look to for years to come." It is a fitting note to close on, because the road ahead for BRICS, and for India within it, will likely be won or lost not in the language of declarations, but in the quieter work of building institutions, standards and trust that outlast any single summit.
If the last two decades of BRICS were about proving that such a coalition could exist at all, the next chapter, anchored, for now, by India's own trajectory, will be about proving that it can build something durable: resilient supply chains, credible AI governance, safer digital ecosystems, and institutions genuinely reflective of a multipolar world. The principles have been laid down. What follows will define whether they were a moment, or a movement.
References
- Prime Minister of India, Government of India. BRICS New Delhi Declaration: Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability (September 12, 2026). pmindia.gov.in
- Forbes India. BRICS Summit 2026: 11 Key Takeaways From the New Delhi Declaration. forbesindia.com
- The Statesman. BRICS Summit 2026: Here is what the New Delhi Declaration says. thestatesman.com
- Tribune India. India to host BRICS Summit in 2026; forum collectively condemns Pahalgam terror attack, calls for zero tolerance: Om Birla.tribuneindia.com
- ummid.com News Network. BRICS Declaration 2026: Full Text.* ummid.com
- PIB India (Press Information Bureau, via Substack). BRICS 2026: From Representation to Partnership. pibindia.substack.com
- BRICS Expert Council (Russia). Kumar, Vineet. CyberPeace, BRICS, and a New Framework for Digital Trust. bricscouncil.ru
Related Blogs
Executive Summary
A Pakistani propaganda account on social media has claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stood alongside the Pakistani Prime Minister. Research by CyberPeace’s research wing found that PM Modi and President Putin held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. During the meeting, the two leaders exchanged warm greetings and discussed several issues, including the India-Russia strategic partnership.
Claim:
A social media post claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored Prime Minister Narendra Modi and stood alongside the Pakistani Prime Minister.
https://x.com/TacticalTribun/status/2094808040973172786
Fact Check:
To verify the truth behind the viral claim, we searched Google using relevant keywords related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to Kyrgyzstan. During the search, we found a video posted on ANI’s X handle on September 1, 2026. According to the video, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek during the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit.
https://x.com/ANI/status/2094675518897692896
In the next step of our research, we scanned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s X account, where we found a post dated August 31, 2026. In the post, PM Modi wrote, “Had extensive discussions with President Putin. Discussed the full range of the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. It is gladdening to see significant progress across various sectors in recent years. Focus areas for the India-Russia friendship remain energy, innovation, space, fertilisers and people-to-people linkages.”
https://x.com/narendramodi/status/2094433881714032725?s=20
At the end of our research, we found a report published on the Aaj Tak website on September 1, 2026. According to the report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, where he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit. Several leaders of the organisation, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, also attended the summit. During the summit, a moment was captured in which PM Modi warmly greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin together, while Shehbaz Sharif was seen quietly walking past them.
Conclusion:
Our research established that the claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin ignored Prime Minister Narendra Modi and gave preference to the Pakistani Prime Minister is misleading. The viral post presents video footage from different occasions out of context. In reality, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Putin held a bilateral meeting, during which the two leaders discussed several key issues, including the India-Russia strategic partnership.
Introduction
AI has revolutionized the way we look at growing technologies. AI is capable of performing complex tasks in fasten time. However, AI’s potential misuse led to increasing cyber crimes. As there is a rapid expansion of generative AI tools, it has also led to growing cyber scams such as Deepfake, voice cloning, cyberattacks targeting Critical Infrastructure and other organizations, and threats to data protection and privacy. AI is empowered by giving the realistic output of AI-created videos, images, and voices, which cyber attackers misuse to commit cyber crimes.
It is notable that the rapid advancement of technologies such as generative AI(Artificial Intelligence), deepfake, machine learning, etc. Such technologies offer convenience in performing several tasks and are capable of assisting individuals and business entities. On the other hand, since these technologies are easily accessible, cyber-criminals leverage AI tools and technologies for malicious activities or for committing various cyber frauds. By such misuse of advanced technologies such as AI, deepfake, and voice clones. Such new cyber threats have emerged.
What is Deepfake?
Deepfake is an AI-based technology. Deepfake is capable of creating realistic images or videos which in actuality are created by machine algorithms. Deepfake technology, since easily accessible, is misused by fraudsters to commit various cyber crimes or deceive and scam people through fake images or videos that look realistic. By using the Deepfake technology, cybercriminals manipulate audio and video content which looks very realistic but, in actuality, is fake. Voice cloning is also a part of deepfake. To create a voice clone of anyone's, audio can be deepfaked too, which closely resembles a real one but, in actuality, is a fake voice created through deepfake technology.
How Deepfake Can Harm Organizations or Enterprises?
- Reputation: Deepfakes have a negative impact on the reputation of the organization. It’s a reputation which is at stake. Fake representations or interactions between an employee and user, for example, misrepresenting CEO online, could damage an enterprise’s credibility, resulting in user and other financial losses. To be protective against such incidents of deepfake, organisations must thoroughly monitor online mentions and keep tabs on what is being said or posted about the brand. Deepfake-created content can also be misused to Impersonate leaders, financial officers and officials of the organisation.
- Misinformation: Deepfake can be used to spread misrepresentation or misinformation about the organisation by utilising the deepfake technology in the wrong way.
- Deepfake Fraud calls misrepresenting the organisation: There have been incidents where bad actors pretend to be from legitimate organisations and seek personal information. Such as helpline fraudsters, fake representatives from hotel booking departments, fake loan providers, etc., where bad actors use voice clones or deepfake-oriented fake video calls in order to propose themselves as belonging to legitimate organisations and, in actuality, they are deceiving people.
How can organizations combat AI-driven cybercrimes such as deepfake?
- Cybersecurity strategy: Organisations need to keep in place a wide range of cybersecurity strategies or use advanced tools to combat the evolving disinformation and misrepresentation caused by deepfake technology. Cybersecurity tools can be utilised to detect deepfakes.
- Social media monitoring: Social media monitoring can be done to detect any unusual activity. Organisations can select or use relevant tools and implement technologies to detect deepfakes and demonstrate media provenance. Real-time verification capabilities and procedures can be used. Reverse image searches, like TinEye, Google Image Search, and Bing Visual Search, can be extremely useful if the media is a composition of images.
- Employee Training: Employee education on cybersecurity will also play a significant role in strengthening the overall cybersecurity posture of the organisation.
Conclusion
There have been incidents where AI-driven tools or technology have been misused by cybercriminals or bad actors. Synthetic videos developed by AI are used by bad actors. Generative AI has gained significant popularity for many capabilities that produce synthetic media. There are concerns about synthetic media, such as its misuse of disinformation operations designed to influence the public and spread false information. In particular, synthetic media threats that organisations most often face include undermining the brand, financial gain, threat to the security or integrity of the organisation itself and Impersonation of the brand’s leaders for financial gain.
Synthetic media attempts to target organisations intending to defraud the organisation for financial gain. Example includes fake personal profiles on social networking sites and deceptive deepfake calls, etc. The organisation needs to have the proper cyber security strategy in place to combat such evolving threats. Monitoring and detection should be performed by the organisations and employee training on empowering on cyber security will also play a crucial role to effectively deal with evolving threats posed by the misuse of AI-driven technologies.
References:
- https://media.defense.gov/2023/Sep/12/2003298925/-1/-1/0/CSI-DEEPFAKE-THREATS.PDF
- https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/98419-how-to-mitigate-the-threat-of-deepfakes-to-enterprise-organizations
Executive Summary
A video circulating on social media allegedly shows an Indian Army Air Defence JCO, identified as “Anurag Thakur,” criticising the Central government and announcing his resignation. In the clip, the individual is purportedly heard expressing disappointment with the government’s support for soldiers and claiming heavy casualties within his unit. However, an investigation by the CyberPeace Research Wing has found the claim to be false and the video manipulated.
Claim:
The viral post alleges that an Indian Army Air Defence JCO criticised the Centre and resigned, citing lack of support for soldiers and unacknowledged casualties.
Fact Check:
A keyword search using terms such as “Indian Army Air Defence JCO,” “Anurag Thakur,” and “resignation” did not yield any credible news reports supporting the claim. A reverse image search of the viral clip led to an original video posted by ANI on April 22, 2026. The ANI watermark is also visible in the viral footage, confirming that the clip has been sourced from this original video.
In the authentic version, the same personnel appears in the same setting, but he is speaking in Hindi about operations against adversary drones during “Operation Sindoor” in May 2025. He explains how his unit detected and neutralised multiple drones, successfully safeguarding a critical installation. Importantly, the original video does not identify the individual as Anurag Thakur, nor does it contain any reference to resignation, casualties, or criticism of the government.
Further technical analysis using the AI detection tool Hive Moderation indicated that the audio in the viral clip has an 86 percent likelihood of being artificially generated.
Conclusion:
The viral video has been altered with fabricated audio to falsely claim that an Indian Army officer criticised the government and resigned. The claim is baseless and the clip is a clear case of a deepfake created to mislead viewers.
