By Manish Chand, IANS
New Delhi : The stalled India-US nuclear deal will not prevent Russia from signing an agreement with India for building four more nuclear reactors at Kudankulam that is likely to be concluded during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Moscow beginning Sunday.
“India’s ongoing civil nuclear energy cooperation in Kudankulam will be independent of the fate of the India-US nuclear deal. Russia has already spoken to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other relevant players for this,” a top Russian source, who did not wish to be named, told IANS.
“Four additional power units at Kudankulam will be an extension of what we have already been doing with India. It shouldn’t be a problem,” the source added.
“The Kudankulam agreement should take place during the Indian prime minister’s visit. Had the India-US deal gone through, it would have made things easier. But we are going ahead,” the source said.
He said this when asked whether the derailing of the nuclear deal due to compulsions of coalition politics in India has affected enthusiasm in Moscow for doing business with New Delhi.
If all goes well, the agreement, which will also lay down guidelines for long-term cooperation in nuclear energy, will be signed after Manmohan Singh holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday.
India and Russia, however, can’t sign a comprehensive bilateral civil nuclear cooperation pact until the NSG clears the India-US nuclear deal.
“India-Russia relations are stronger than ever. Nothing will affect this enduring and time-tested relationship,” he said when asked about some media reports that alluded to protocol differences and speculation about a chill in India-Russia ties.
During Putin’s visit, India and Russia signed a memorandum of intent for the latter building four additional nuclear power plant units at Kudanakulam. A joint statement on the promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy was also adopted after the talks.
Russia was one of the first few countries to promise its support in the powerful Nuclear Suppliers Group after India and the US struck the historic nuclear deal in July 2005.
Atomstroyexport, Russia’s nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, started building the Kudankulam plant in the southern province of Tamil Nadu in 2002.
India and the then Soviet Union signed an agreement in 1988 on building 2000 MW power plant at Kudankuam which is now nearing completion. An addendum was signed ten years later.
Manmohan Singh, who goes on a two-day visit to Moscow Sunday, is likely to send the message across that his government was still hopeful of pushing the stalled nuclear deal which Russia has backed in the hope of earning billions in business.
The decades-old Russian civil nuclear industry was enthusiastic about the opening of India’s nuclear business and hoped to get first mover advantage after the NSG approved rule change in favour of India.
Russia is also willing to build fast neutron reactors for Indian power plants after international sanctions are lifted against New Delhi in civil nuclear cooperation.
But now with the deal stalled and India yet to negotiate a safeguards agreement with the IAEA, some noticed a dampening of enthusiasm in Moscow. The Kudankulam agreement will dispel that impression and put a new bounce in India’s energy ties with Russia.
Ahead of Manmohan Singh’s visit, there were, however, some jarring notes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov did not meet External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee when he visited Moscow last month, saying he was too busy with other meetings.
Mukherjee was also frisked at the Moscow airport on his way back, according to some media reports, which were denied by the government.
However, some senior officials told IANS that too much is being read into these reports and denied that relations were cooling off between the two countries.