By Manish Chand, IANS
On Board Air India One : The stalling of the India-US nuclear deal has put in cold storage an agreement on Russia building four more additional reactors in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, but New Delhi is still hopeful of expanding civil nuclear cooperation with Moscow, a “time-tested friend”, top Indian officials said Sunday.
National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon also vehemently a repudiated speculation about a chill in India-Russia ties, saying that Moscow continued to be New Delhi’s “most important strategic partner” and this time-tested relationship is now stronger than ever.
“We are in the process of discussing an inter-governmental agreement on building four more reactors in Kudankulam. We look forward to expanding civil nuclear cooperation with Russia,” Menon told reporters aboard the prime minister’s special aircraft on way to Moscow.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Moscow later on a two-day visit, a part of the annual engagement process between the two countries at the summit level.
India and Russia signed a protocol of intent for building four additional light water reactors at Kudankulam during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India in January. A joint statement on the promotion of peaceful uses of nuclear energy was also adopted after the talks.
But the inter-governmental agreement, which both sides have been working on for months, will not be signed Monday after talks between Manmohan Singh and Putin.
This is because Russia cannot unilaterally go ahead with the project without a change in the guidelines of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in favour of India.
“It is for the NSG members to decide. Their obligation comes from that. We are looking forward to expanding civil nuclear cooperation with other members of the international community,” Menon said, while holding out hope for continuing civil nuclear cooperation with Russia.
“The original agreement in 1988 doesn’t provide for more than two reactors. The additional reactor cannot be considered part of the 1988 pact,” Menon clarified.
Russia had sought exemption for the 1988 Kudankulam deal with India for building two 1,000 MW reactors from the NSG under the “grandfatherly” clause after it joined the nuclear group in 1992 arguing that Moscow cannot go back on its commitments with New Delhi.
“It’s not possible to resort to the grandfatherly clause now. We have attempted that. But it’s not possible now,” Menon said
He, however, stressed that despite the roadblocks India was hopeful of expanding civil nuclear cooperation with Russia and added that the two countries were in fact planning to cooperate in the six-nation multi-billion dollar International Thermo Nuclear Project (ITER) that aims at generating electricity through fusion.
Replying to a question on the Indian response to a Russian plan for setting up an international uranium enrichment centre in Angarsk, Menon said it was a relatively new idea and it was too early to take a position on it.
Russia is an influential member of the NSG and was one of the first few countries to support the India-US nuclear deal and offer support in the NSG, which operates by consensus.
Atomstroyexport, Russia’s nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, started building the Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu in 2002. India and the then Soviet Union signed an agreement in 1988 on building a 2,000 MW power plant at Kudankulam. An addendum was signed 10 years later.
“It is a working process. We hope to be able to get over whatever problems are on the way,” Narayanan said.
“Russia has gone out of its way to help us in the past. We didn’t want to presume on that friendship all the time,” Menon said while hinting at difficulties in doing nuclear commerce with Russia or any other country without a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a change of guidelines by the NSG.
These two steps, necessary for operationalising the nuclear deal, are currently stuck in domestic political impasse between the government and its Leftist allies.
Despite a temporary setback on the nuclear front, both Menon and Narayanan stressed on the special quality and depth of India-Russia relationship that has thrived despite changes in the international order.
“This is a relationship without any difficulties. In terms of the depth of relationship and its sustained quality, this relationship is unparalleled. It’s hard to think of any two countries having this kind of relationship,” Menon said.
“Russia has changed. We have changed. We have a solid basis for this relationship in the future,” he stressed.