As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped out on Sunday noon to a Moscow freezing at minus five degrees, diplomatic circles on both sides have been warming up to what they believe would be a very significant nuclear deal between the two countries, going way beyond the contours of the 123 agreement that India has signed with the US.
Top sources in New Delhi think the nuclear agreement that Singh would sign with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday would be nothing short of a “path-breaker and a path-finder”, with built-in back-up clauses to ensure that the Russians would continue to provide fuel for Indian nuclear plants, regardless of what happens to the bilateral agreement in the future.
That apart, there are also implicit clauses in the deal that would allow India to enrich and process nuclear fuel, according to top government sources.
The deal, which will cancel out the earlier one dating back to 1998, is an “aggressive document”, according to the sources. “It will go way beyond the 123 agreement with the US that says we would need to return nuclear equipment and do without fuel supplies if the bilateral agreement folds up,” the sources pointed out.
“The final agreement would also address the Indian role in a whole spectrum — equipment, reprocessing rights, even technology. We have done some talking for these areas to be addressed,” they added.
The new agreement would cover the construction of four more nuclear reactors to be built by the Russians at Kodankulam in Tamil Nadu, where the Russians are already building a couple of 1000 VVER light water reactors.
The Russian accommodation of these Indian demands is being seen as a natural corollary to its approach from 2005, when Moscow stepped in to bail out Delhi while fuel levels at the Tarapur nuclear plant went dangerously low. Fuel was hard to find after India had signed the 2005 nuke agreement with the US. It was the Russians who provided 60 tonnes of uranium, reasoning with other Nuclear Suppliers Group that it was doing so under the safety exception clause. This had virtually saved Tarapur’s two reactors.
Meanwhile, diplomatic sources say India and Russia have now “come close” to breaking the price stalemate over the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov. Though there is no official confirmation on whether it has come to an agreement stage yet, sources say this would be discussed by Medvedev and Singh. The Russians have demanded $2.9 billion for the refurbished carrier and India has not gone beyond its $2.1 billion offer, the sources said, adding that the Russians were likely to scale down their demand now.
0 comments:
Post a Comment