Moscow: Reflecting India's "high priority" to develop relations with Russia, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Moscow on Sunday evening, on a two-day official visit to give a new push to bilateral cooperation in diverse fields.
Moscow rolled out the red carpet for Singh, who will hold the eighth India-Russia summit talks with President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
Meanwhile, hitches continued to dog the planned signing of a civil nuclear cooperation agreement between India and Russia on Monday for construction of four more nuclear reactors in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu in the backdrop of the stalled Indo-US nuclear deal.
The agreement was widely expected to be signed after a MoU was signed in this regard during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India early this year.
However, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon told media-persons on board the Prime Minister's Special Aircraft today that some "problems" still exist. But work is in progress to get over them, he added.
National Security Adviser M K Narayanan said the original agreement signed in 1988 to build two nuclear reactors with Russian assistance was not a general agreement where there could be four more reactors.
"The 1988 agreement is not as if you can grandfather four more reactors(in Kudangulam)," Narayanan said in remarks, to suggest that four additional reactors were not part of the original agreement.
Menon remained firm, however, that India was keen on forging civil nuclear
energy cooperation with Russia in the future.
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He added that Russia has agreed to support India at the 45- member National Security Group which has to make amendments by consensus to facilitate the international community's nuclear trade with India.
Menon said though a MoU was signed in this regard during Vladimir Putin's visit to India early this year it was not possible to execute an inter-governmental agreement now.
Singh, who is on his second trip to Russia in two years, said in a statement in Delhi shortly before leaving for Moscow, that his visit will lead to a reaffirmation of the joint endeavour towards creating greater economic prosperity and a secure, stable and peaceful order.
"I will convey to him (Putin) the high priority that India attaches to its partnership with Russia and the benefits that this partnership has brought to our two peoples," Singh said.
Also on the agenda is the other contentious issue of delay in modernisation of the nuclear-powered Russian Navy's aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov and cost escalation. Menon said Moscow had been "apologetic" about it. The Russian side, he said, did not expect the problems being faced now. The carrier was to have been delivered next year but has been beset with several problems.
The supply of defence spare parts from Russia to India has also been an irritant. This issue will bet taken up at the talks between Prime Minister Singh and President Putin.
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