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| Friday, 3 December 2004 |
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Putin to rebuild old bridges with India NEW DELHI, Thursday (Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin visits former Cold War ally India this week, hoping to retain a dominant share of India's military hardware market and boost cooperation in oil and civilian nuclear energy. Putin, who begins his three-day trip on Friday, will try to re-kindle a strategic partnership with India that has slipped in recent years, officials and analysts said. "Our relationship with Russia is not special anymore, and I suspect it is true the other way round as well," said Pratap Bhanu Mehta, head of New Delhi's Centre for Policy Research. "India doesn't really figure in Russia's strategic conception," Mehta said. New Delhi, which once relied heavily on the former Soviet Union for military supplies, has increasingly turned to Israel, South Africa and even the United States for arms. New Delhi's ties with the United States have especially warmed since the war on terror, a surge in India's economy and the emergence of a strong computer software industry. "Russia is with growing alarm witnessing the rapprochement between India and the United States," Pave Felgenhauer, an independent defence and security analyst told Reuters in Moscow. "This rapprochement may terminate India's heavy buying of Russian military technology," he said. On Wednesday, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov held talks with his Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, on a proposed defence technology secrecy pact that officials say will help in joint development of weapons. "The only way our relationship will move forward is if we get into joint research, design and development, and manufacture of weapon systems," said an Indian defence ministry official. "We cannot be locked into a relationship where we remain arms importers for another 30 years," he said. During Putin's visit, the two sides are also expected to discuss an Indian proposal for supply of nuclear reactors from Russia that has run into difficulties because of New Delhi's refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Russia is helping build two 1,000 megawatt reactors at Kudankulam in south India, but New Delhi wants four more of these at the plant to meet its huge energy needs. Moscow has faced pressure from the United States and other nations not to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to India for fear it could be used to build nuclear weapons. "We really want to build more reactors there, and India is really keen on that, but we simply can't go ahead with that because of international restrictions," said a source in the Russian Atomic Energy Agency. "It's a very sensitive political issue. But the leaders of the two countries will likely discuss ways out of this deadlock. But nothing concrete will be signed." Putin who is due to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday will also travel to Bangalore, the country's technology capital. The two sides will also discuss ways to promote investments by Indian and Russian oil and gas firms in both nations. India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp said last week it was keen to bid for the assets of Russia's crisis-hit oil major YUKOS. |
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