JYOTI MALHOTRA
New Delhi, January 25, 2007 : Buoyed by India’s newly-minted friendship with the US, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laid on an effusive welcome for old friend and partner Russia today, the centrepiece of which was the Russian promise to construct four more nuclear reactors at Kudankulam as well as take military ties to a brand new level.
Describing Russian president Vladimir Putin as a ``world statesman and a special friend of India,’’ Singh told a press conference that despite the sea change in international power relations in the last decade, ``Russia remains at the core of India’s foreign policy interests.’’
In fact, at the PM’s lunch before the press conference, you would be forgiven for thinking that the good old days were back again. Besides Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul, India’s ideological spectrum was reflected in full measure. Left leaders like Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat and A B Bardhan, besides Speaker Somnath Chatterjee were present, as were BJP leaders A B Vajpayee, L K Advani and Brajesh Mishra, as well as former PM and former ambassador to the former Soviet Union, I K Gujral.
And yet, the invisible presence of the American superpower in the room would not be denied. The Russian president, asked by The Telegraph at the end of the welcome line about Moscow’s reaction to the Indo-US nuclear deal, stopped in mid-handshake and said, ``It is a positive step. We support India in its relations with Nuclear Supplier Group countries like America.’’
Clearly, Putin was referring to reports about the potential rivalry between Moscow and Washington over New Delhi, symbolised by the Russian intent to construct four more nuclear reactors at Kudamkulam (the memorandum of intent was signed at the press conference).
And although Russia seemed to be ironically reaping the first advantage of US efforts to make India a global nuclear power, official sources confirmed that the Russian offer in Kudankulam and elsewhere were subject to the Nuclear Suppliers Group amending its guidelines on India.
The sources pointed out that the US, with an acknowledged veto on the NSG, would only allow such an amendment to take place after India and the US cleared their bilateral nuclear deal (known as the ``123 agreement’’).
Still, this Putin visit to India – marked by his presence as chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations – will be remembered for the fact that Russia, having dropped out of the Indian consciousness for more than a decade, had decided to come back with a bang.
So even though the Russian nuclear reactors will now be subject to US approval, Russian officials were keen to emphasise that Russian made goods – such as MIG fighters, said to be half the price of the US F-18s (both are competing for the IAF tender for 126 fighter jets), the fifth generation fighter aircraft as well as the multi-role transport plane – could compete with the best equipment in the world.
The Russian president pointed out that due to this ``direct and practical cooperation,’’ Russia’s presence would show itself in space, aviation, investment, military-technical cooperation, culture, and especially in the ``exploration, production and transportation of hydrocarbons.’’
Energy cooperation, clearly, was a highlight of the visit. The arrival of the first shipment of oil from Sakhalin-1 in eastern Russia to India took place in December. Today, an MOU between ONGC and its Russian counterpart Rosneft in setting up joint working groups to explore potential in the entire hydrocarbon chain was set up.
ENDS
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