When Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi were together in China last year, images of the three leaders smiling, holding hands and chatting animatedly went viral.
This weekend, they meet again in New Delhi against an increasingly complicated geopolitical backdrop.
India is hosting leaders of BRICS, a grouping of major emerging economies seeking greater influence in a global system long dominated by the U.S. and other Western powers. Xi, Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are among those expected to attend alongside Modi.
The U.S. and Israel are at war with Iran, Washington continues to push Moscow toward a deal to end the war in Ukraine, and U.S. President Donald Trump's trade policies have disrupted relationships with allies and rivals alike.
Against that backdrop, the summit will put the spotlight on whether those pressures are giving some BRICS members more reason to cooperate on trade, energy and payments, even as deep divisions limit how far that cooperation can go.