Tuesday, December 15, 2009
* Moscow’s ambassador urges increasing nuclear cooperation with India
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: Russia is planning to set up 12 to 14 nuclear reactors in India, with the Russian Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin saying his country had no issues with transferring enrichment and reprocessing technologies (ENR) to New Delhi.
"We do not have domestic laws as strict as in some other countries. We do not see many problems in this field," he said.
He, however, said Moscow would act according to international conventions, but these would not impede nuclear cooperation with India.
"Some modus operandi will be worked out so as not to prevent us from pursuing full nuclear cooperation with India," Kadakin replied when asked about the status of Russia's reprocessing pact with India.
Atomic aid:
Calling the India-Russia pact on peaceful use of nuclear energy signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Moscow last week a "pioneering agreement", Kadakin stressed on scaling up atomic cooperation with India.
Alluding to India's burgeoning energy requirements, the envoy said Moscow was looking to set up six to eight new nuclear reactors at a site in West Bengal, besides six reactors it was building at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu under two separate arrangements.
"Maybe there will also be a third site," the Russian envoy said. "It should be done not piece by piece but series by series," he said.
The Russian envoy also revealed that the final price for the refurbishment of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov had been finalised. He, however, declined to disclose the amount.
Moscow had reportedly asked for $2.9 billion for the aircraft carrier, nearly thrice the price originally agreed between the two sides in 2004. But New Delhi insisted on reducing the price to $2.1 billion.
The Gorshkov issue came up during the summit-level talks between Prime Minister Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow last week.
Kadakin said India-Russia defence ties remained strong as ever and Moscow was not worried about New Delhi diversifying its purchase of military hardware from other countries.
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C12%5C15%5Cstory_15-12-2009_pg7_44
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