October 21
India and Russia today underscored strengthening of the special and privileged partnership with both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Vladimir Putin complimenting each other for the leadership that continues to provide momentum to the ties.

A range of bilateral issues figured prominently during the 14th Annual Summit between the two countries. Both Putin and Manmohan hoped for a forward movement in the deal on two additional reactors for the Kudankulam nuclear plant. Legal experts on both sides are vetting the techno-commercial offers seeking to address Russian concern over liability clause under new Indian laws.

President Putin noted that "in a few hours" power from the Kudankulam nuclear power plant-1 will be flowing to the electricity grid. The nuclear power plant that went critical in July this year will be producing 300 MW of power from tonight. The Prime Minister said he has conveyed to Putin India's commitment to fully implant the roadmap on civil nuclear cooperation signed during 2010. "We have directed our officials to resolve all outstanding issues at the earlies," he said.

A joint statement at the end of the Summit, emphasised the need to facilitate cooperation among power sector companies for modernisation of existing power plants and construction of new facilities.

In a media interaction later, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh said the two sides also discussed the possibility of having a pipeline from Russia to India for transportation of oil. Fight against terrorism found a special mention in the statement with both sides recalling the Moscow Declaration of 2001 and reiterating that international terrorism is a threat to peace and security and a grave violation of human rights and a crime against humanity.

The Foreign Secretary mentioned that Pakistan figured in the discussion on the issue. Both sides agreed there cannot be ideological, religious, political, racial, ethnic or any other justification to acts of terrorism. They noted that incidents like Mumbai attack or Beslan tragedy in Russia cannot be justified on any grounds.

In the area of cyber security, both New Delhi and Moscow agreed to deepen their consultation and cooperation and accelerate consideration of a proposed intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field.