Prime Minister Manhoman Singh is arriving here on Sunday evening, leading a high-powered delegation on a two-day “official” visit to Russia to inject some warmth in the wintry chill that has set in India-Russia relations recently, threatening the very fabric of traditional friendship that evolved into a strategic partnership.As of now, there is no firm commitment from Russia on the nuclear cooperation during Singh’s visit, sources said. “We do not have a firm commitment on the nuclear cooperation agreement,” they said, adding: “But it is something which both sides are working on and we are hopeful.”During his last summit in January in New Delhi, Putin further strengthened the bilateral strategic partnership by enhancing India’s energy security with a Protocol of Intent (PoI) to build four additional reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant, being built with Russian assistance.India and Russia have been working on an Inter-Governmental Agreement, expecting to sign an agreement to build four more reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear power plant during Singh’s visit. “The issue is currently being considered and I hope the agreement will be signed during the Indian Prime Minister’s visit to Moscow,” Russian Security Council Secretary Valentin Sobolev told journalists in New Delhi recently after his talks with the PM.A number of agreements are expected to be signed at the summit, including on space cooperation, Letters of Exchange on the rupee debt investment, prevention of drug trafficking and transnational crime and archival matters. After the approval by the Cabinet Committee on Thursday, a proposal for jointly developing and producing multi-role transport aircraft (MTA) with Russia, an agreement on this may also be signed during the visit.This will be 8th annual summit between the two heads of the Government, alternatively held in India and Russia since 2000. However, it has been squeezed in within the space of the same year because of the campaign for Russian parliamentary election on December 2 and presidential poll in early March.The summit is taking place in the backdrop of acrimonious diplomatic hassle over the protocol status of the PM’s visit for the annual summit with President Vladimir Putin. It is also overshadowed by the unprecedented “frisking” of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee at a Moscow airport last month and refusal by the Russian Foreign Minister to meet him.
