Inside BRICS’ extraordinary protection grid for Xi, Putin and Modi

Three of the world’s most closely guarded political leaders are now inside the same security grid in New Delhi.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived with his heavily protected Aurus Senat. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit has brought a specialised Chinese security team and his own convoy arrangements. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains inside the close-protection ring of India’s Special Protection Group, reports The Statesman.

Their convergence at the BRICS Summit has turned the capital into an unusually complex protection zone, where foreign presidential security teams must operate alongside Indian agencies without allowing gaps between their respective security bubbles.

Tens of thousands of security personnel have been deployed for the summit. Bharat Mandapam, VVIP hotels, and routes used by visiting leaders have been brought under layered security. More than 100 NSG commandos have also been assigned to the operation, according to reports on the summit preparations.

For Putin, Xi, and PM Modi, however, the protection begins much closer than the outer Delhi security cordon.

Putin’s Aurus Senat: A presidential fortress that travels abroad

Few elements of Vladimir Putin’s security apparatus are as visible as the massive black limousine that travels with him.

The Aurus Senat is Russia’s official presidential car. Aurus itself says the vehicle is used by the Russian President during major official visits in Russia and overseas.

The manufacturer says the Senat was designed with a reinforced body structure and that its armoured and standard versions were developed alongside each other.

That pedigree has earned the presidential version descriptions such as a “fortress on wheels”. Putin used the Aurus in Delhi on Friday, with PM Modi joining him for a ride following their bilateral meeting at Bharat Mandapam.

The car is not merely ceremonial transport.

Putin’s close protection falls within Russia’s Federal Guard Service, or FSO, the federal body responsible for state protection and safeguarding presidential and government communications. Russia’s presidential security service operates within that broader structure.

Russian security personnel reached Delhi ahead of Putin and were deployed at his hotel with their own equipment. Indian security was layered around that protection, with additional senior Delhi Police officers assigned at the property.

It creates, in effect, overlapping rings: Putin’s own protective machinery at the centre and the host country’s larger security apparatus around it.

Xi Jinping’s security ring extends from convoy to hotel rooftop

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived with another tightly controlled security ecosystem.

Chinese security teams were in Delhi before his arrival and had taken up positions at the hotel designated for his stay. Security deployment stretched from the floor housing the President to the ground level and rooftop, according to officials cited in reports ahead of the summit.

On the Indian side, the Delhi Police Special Cell was entrusted with security arrangements for Xi.

His protection has also involved tighter airspace and threat-screening measures. Security measures during his visit have included temporary no-fly restrictions around his hotel and checks against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats.

Xi’s motorcade adds another controlled layer.

The Chinese President uses China’s Hongqi state-car marque. Reports identify the Hongqi N701 as his armoured limousine for the visit.

Hongqi describes the N701 as the travelling limousine used for the Chinese leadership’s official movement at home and abroad.

Both the Russian and Chinese delegations were expected to travel in some of their own vehicles and convoy cars rather than depend entirely on host-country transport.

That is why securing a summit of this scale goes far beyond guarding a venue. Every foreign motorcade brings its own procedures, vehicles, personnel, and operational requirements.

India PM Modi’s SPG shield: Close protection built around ‘zero error’

At the centre of Narendra Modi’s personal security is the Special Protection Group.

Unlike many of the details surrounding foreign presidential security organisations, the SPG’s core mandate is set out in Indian law.

The Special Protection Group Act defines “proximate security” as protection from close quarters, whether the protectee is travelling by road, rail, aircraft, watercraft, on foot, or by another form of transport.

It includes ring-round teams, isolation cordons, sterile zones, rostrum security, and access control.

The SPG says it protects the Prime Minister at his office and residence, during functions, and on domestic and overseas tours. Its operating philosophy centres on “Zero Error” and a “Culture of Excellence”.

At BRICS, that permanent protection structure sits inside a much larger summit arrangement involving Delhi Police, intelligence, and specialist security agencies.

11 hotels, 35 routes and a security map across Delhi

The challenge is not confined to Bharat Mandapam.

Security planning has covered 11 hotels and 35 important routes associated with leaders and delegations. Route rehearsals were carried out ahead of the summit, and anti-drone measures were deployed as part of the security architecture.

Hotel employees were subjected to background verification, including checks in their home states.

Foreign security personnel have worked around the hotels occupied by their leaders. From there, guarded convoys must move through sterilised routes to Bharat Mandapam according to tightly controlled schedules.

More than 100 Delhi Police sniffer dogs have also been deployed at Bharat Mandapam and hotels for anti-sabotage checks.

The result is a security operation built in concentric layers.

A leader’s personal protection team controls the innermost ring. Indian specialist forces and police secure the immediate location.

Routes, venues, hotels, and surrounding areas form the wider defensive grid.

When three protection systems have to work as one

That coordination is what makes this BRICS security operation unusual.

Putin arrives with a protection system built around Russia’s FSO and his presidential Aurus. Xi travels with his own Chinese security contingent and state transport. PM Modi’s movements remain inside the statutory protection architecture of the SPG.

Yet once they are in Delhi, each system has to intersect with the same host-country machinery.

The armoured cars may attract the cameras. The guards closest to the leaders may be the most visible. But the larger operation depends on layers that extend much further — through hotels, controlled routes, anti-sabotage sweeps, airspace security and thousands of personnel deployed across the capital.

For BRICS, Delhi is not merely hosting some of the world’s most powerful political figures. It is simultaneously hosting the security systems built to keep them safe.