NEW DELHI, Dec 21: India and Russia will sign “about a dozen agreements” during the upcoming visit of President Vladimir Putin here beginning from December 24, providing a powerful impetus to further development of the Strategic Partnership between the two countries. Russian Ambassador to India, Alaxender Kadakin, said at a news conference here today that President Putin will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on various matters of bilateral, regional and international interest, including the “burning issue” of Syria. “About a dozen agreements are likely to be signed…,” he said. He did not elaborate. The visit, at the invitation of Dr Singh, is his first after being elected to serve a third term as the President of Russia. Asserting that India and Russia would continue to be close friends, the Ambassador said although Russia’s relations with Pakistan and China were also good, but New Delhi and Moscow were strategic partners and close friends. Asserting that Russia wanted India’s relations with both China and Pakistan to be good, Mr Kadakin said Russia would like India’s relations with Pakistan to improve but it did not mean that Moscow wanted to play intermediary role. With China, he said, Russia wanted India-China problems to be resolved. “It is a meticulous process…It took us thirty years to resolve our problems with China,” he said and added that Russia would not do anything that would harm India’s interests. To a question on the delay in the delivery of aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov (rechristened INS Vikramaditya), the Ambassador said it was a very sophisticated weapon system and Russia wanted to give the best technology to India which it had not given to anybody else. “We want a healthy baby that is strong…That is why the delay…If you want a healthy baby, you have to wait a little bit…We have to give you a state-of-the-art thing,” he said. The aircraft carrier which was to be delivered by Russia by December end, would not be given before 2013 end now, Defence Minister A K Antony had said in Parliament recently. To a question on the issue of spare parts for Defence equipment supplied by Russia to India, Mr Kadakin said some weapons were supplied by the erstwhile Soviet Union to India and therefore, the production of such spare parts had stopped. He said Russia was now talking with India for opening service centres, like the one opened for helicopters. He advised India not to buy spare parts from “unauthorised” suppliers whether from “across the Russian borders…Beware of fake spare parts,” he cautioned. About the discussions with Pakistan on the post-2014 scenario after the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, Mr Kadakin said Russia was talking to Pakistan about all those matters. He said Pakistan is sovereign nation and also important for the post-2014 scenario. “Nothing will be done by Russia that will cause even minimal damage to India…I don’t think there can be a divorce after 50 years of marriage…I don’t see any such situation,” he said. On the Kudankulam issue, he hoped that stage three and four issues of the nuclear power would be settled since “active negotiations” were taking place. (UNI)
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