BRICS Summit 2026 Day 2 Live Updates: BRICS leaders voice concern over 'growing risks' of nuclear conflict
On the concluding day of the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi, member leaders reiterated concern over the "growing risks" of nuclear conflict, building on language already adopted in the New Delhi Declaration on the summit's first day.
The grouping called for strengthening the global disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation architecture, alongside protection of civilian and IAEA-safeguarded nuclear facilities from attack.
Day 2 proceedings also covered a wider bouquet of summit outcomes — sessions on inclusive global governance, technology and critical-mineral supply chains, and closing remarks by the summit chair — alongside the nuclear-risk language.
The concern was framed in general, non-attributive terms consistent with BRICS' consensus drafting style, without naming any specific country or ongoing conflict.
Institutional Machinery for Nuclear Disarmament: UN Conference on Disarmament and the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty
Beyond the well-known Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT, 1968) and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT, 1996), the primary standing forum for multilateral disarmament negotiation is the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD), based in Geneva. A long-pending item on the CD's agenda is the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT), a proposed treaty to ban future production of weapons-grade fissile material (highly enriched uranium and plutonium) for nuclear weapons.
Key Details
- The CD operates by consensus among 65 member states (India included), which has left it deadlocked on the FMCT for over two decades due to disagreements over verification and existing-stockpile coverage.
- India supports negotiating an FMCT at the CD but has consistently opposed any treaty that would freeze it into a position of "permanent nuclear inferiority" relative to states with larger existing stockpiles.
- The FMCT is distinct from the NPT (which bars new weapon states) and the CTBT (which bars testing) — it targets the raw material supply chain for weapons, making it a frequently tested distinction in UPSC prelims.
BRICS' generic call to "invigorate" disarmament efforts touches directly on stalled forums like the CD and FMCT, where consensus has failed for decades — illustrating why declaratory language on disarmament rarely translates into binding multilateral outcomes.
Physical Protection of Nuclear Facilities: The CPPNM Framework
The Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) is the principal binding international instrument covering the physical security of nuclear material and facilities, distinct from the safeguards regime that verifies peaceful use.
Key Details
- The CPPNM was opened for signature in 1980 and entered into force in 1987, originally covering nuclear material only during international transport.
- A 2005 Amendment extended its scope to domestic use, storage and transport of nuclear material and criminalised sabotage of nuclear facilities; the amendment entered into force in 2016 after reaching the required ratifications.
- The IAEA administers CPPNM-related guidance but the Convention itself is a state-party treaty instrument, separate from the IAEA's own safeguards inspections mandate.
The BRICS leaders' language on protecting "peaceful nuclear facilities" during armed conflict maps onto the physical-protection principles the CPPNM framework was designed to codify, even though the Convention itself has no enforcement mechanism against state-directed military strikes.
BRICS as a Platform for Nuclear-Armed and Non-Signatory States
BRICS' 11-member grouping (as of the 2026 expansion) includes states that sit on opposite sides of the global non-proliferation order: NPT-recognised nuclear-weapon states, non-signatory nuclear-armed states, and non-nuclear states.
Key Details
- Russia and China are NPT-recognised Nuclear Weapon States (tested before the treaty's 1 January 1967 cut-off).
- India is a nuclear-armed state that has never signed the NPT, having tested in 1974 and 1998, and follows a declared "No First Use" doctrine (2003).
- Iran, a full BRICS member since 2024, remains an NPT signatory whose nuclear programme has been the subject of IAEA safeguards disputes and, per 2026 developments, direct military strikes on its nuclear-related sites.
This structural diversity is precisely why the summit's nuclear-risk language stays general rather than naming states or prescribing specific treaty reforms — a recurring feature of BRICS communiqués that students should recognise as a limitation of consensus-based multilateralism.
- 18th BRICS Summit held in New Delhi, 12–13 September 2026.
- UN Conference on Disarmament: Geneva-based, 65 member states, operates by consensus; FMCT negotiations stalled for over two decades.
- CPPNM: signed 1980, in force 1987; 2005 Amendment (domestic facilities, sabotage criminalised) entered into force 2016.
- BRICS full membership as of 2026: 11 countries, spanning NPT weapon states (Russia, China), a non-signatory nuclear-armed state (India), and NPT signatories under safeguards scrutiny (Iran).