Putin lends his shoulder

The Russian President was wrapping up a day of intensive deliberations with New Delhi in which both sides exchanged frank notes on issues from the problem of spare parts for Indian defence forces to the situation in the sub-continent.

8216;8216;We will continue to work within the framework of our international obligations in the nuclear field,8217;8217; Putin said, when asked if Moscow was ready to supply additional civilian nuclear reactors to the platform already existing at Kudankulam.

Then he added: 8216;8216;But we also believe that the rules and regulations of this framework require improvement. We have discussed our nuclear cooperation with India in detail. We are ready, prepared and willing to develop relations with India, including in the nuclear field.8217;8217;

Russian reports, meanwhile, are said to have recently quoted the Russian Energy minister Oleg Rumyantsev, present in the talks today, as saying that Moscow 8216;8216;had already begun8217;8217; the construction of additional reactors at Kudankulam in March. Highly placed sources admitted that in the discussions the Indian side had, indeed, asked its Russian counterparts if it was willing to supply additional reactors to the two already being built at Kudankulam.

Answering in the affirmative, the Russians replied that 8216;8216;further discussions8217;8217; were necessary on the ways and means to get around the tough restrictions of the Nuclear Suppliers Group NSG, a post-Cold War body that prohibits cooperation with non-NPT signatories like India.

But Putin8217;s insistence that Moscow8217;s cooperation with New Delhi will take place 8216;8216;within existing international obligations8217;8217;, the analysts said, refers to Russia8217;s determination not to destroy the NSG, but to get it on board.

Putin also demonstrated to his Indian audience his ability to tightrope walk the political minefield of the New Delhi-Islamabad dispute. Even as the Russian Foreign Office wrapped up a two-day meeting with Pakistani officials on countering terrorism in Moscow, the President was fighting shy in Delhi about characterising Islamabad as the bully boy of the region.

Asked what recipe he had in mind to resolve tension between India and Pakistan, Putin refused to be drawn into solutions. 8216;8216;Everything should be done to settle all disputes, including between India and Pakistan, by peaceful means,8217;8217; he said.

In sharp contrast, the Delhi Declaration signed by Prime Minister Vajpayee and the Russian president this evening, had noted the 8216;8216;importance of Islamabad implementing in full its obligations and promises to prevent the infiltration of terrorists across the Line of Control8230;as a prerequisite for the renewal of peaceful dialogue between the two countries.8217;8217;

Asked about the discrepancy between the two statements, Indian officials preferred to focus on the latter.

Putin8217;s day-long visit to New Delhi8212;he leaves for Kyrgyzstan tomorrow morning en route to home in Moscow8212;in fact may have already outlined the changing contours of such a post-September 11 world.

Within hours of the Russian President8217;s departure, the US deputy national security advisor Steve Hadley will be in the city, for talks with National security Advisor Brajesh Mishra, External Affairs minister Yashwant Sinha and Defence minister George Fernandes.

The day after, Mishra leaves for the US for talks with his counterpart, Condoleezza Rice.

In a sense, the day belonged to the rediscovery of Russia by India. Over a business lunch meeting co-hosted by FICCI and CII, Yashwant Sinha exhorted Indian business to go to Moscow and reinvigorate the abysmal levels of current bilateral trade, currently at 1.4 billion.

8216;8216;The two governments can only do so much, not beyond,8217;8217; Sinha said, adding, 8216;8216;Beyond is a territory that you must go to. I am here to tell you, please go to Russia, Russia is a huge market and it has been transforming itself.8217;8217;

Still, the remains of the day were taken up by a plethora of declarations and agreements, protocols and memoranda of understanding.

The Delhi Declaration was on top of eight such agreements, 8216;8216;elevating the strategic partnership to an even higher and qualitatively new level in both bilateral relations and in the international arena.8217;8217;

Foreign ministers Igor Ivanov and Sinha exchanged an MOU on terrorism. Russia and India, the Delhi Declaration went on, 8216;8216;reject and condemn all types of terrorism, based on any ground8212;political, religious or ideological8212;and wherever it may exist.8217;8217;

It invoked the recent theatre siege in Moscow as well as terrorist attacks in India and said that 8216;8216;trans-border organised crime and arms trafficking constituted a growing and serious threat to international peace, security and stability.8217;8217;