India, Russia to expand N-ties

Cementing their strategic ties, Russia today expressed its readiness to further expand co-operation with India in civilian nuclear energy, defence and space as the two sides decided to set up a study group to examine the feasibility of a comprehensive economic co-operation agreement.

At a meeting lasting more than the scheduled 30 minutes with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, President Vladimir Putin expressed Moscow's willingness to look into issues of civilian nuclear energy co-operation with India, including the supply of nuclear fuel for the Tarapore plant and new nuclear power reactors.

During the talks, "Putin agreed to look into these issues after the festivities of the 60th anniversary of Nazi defeat were over," National Security Adviser MK Narayan told reporters here after the meeting.

Russia is helping India in the construction of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu under a deal signed in 1985 by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and erstwhile Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev.

However, after the break up of the USSR, Russia joined the nuclear suppliers group, which bans it from selling civilian nuclear technology to non-signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), including India.

The Prime Minister apprised Putin of India's non-proliferation efforts and plans for the adoption of non-proliferation Bill by Parliament soon.

Singh expressed happiness and appreciated the support given by Russia for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant.

Narayanan said cooperation in space-related activities also figured in the discussions and the fact that the agreement on global navigation satellite system (Glonas) have been signed showed that "we are working further to enhance cooperation in this sector."

"As our economic relations do not mirror our strategic partnership, the Prime Minister has proposed to set up a joint working group to study the feasibility of an Indo-Russian economic cooperation agreement," Narayanan said.