Russia, India sign civilian nuclear deals

MOSCOW, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Russia and India further strengthened their historic ties by concluding civilian nuclear deals Monday under which Moscow will provide firm fuel supplies.

The agreements came during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who just completed a similar successful visit to the United States, where, too, the two sides agreed to speed up the completion of a similar civilian nuclear deal.

The agreements concluded in Russia will include transfer of technology and uninterrupted fuel supplies to India's nuclear reactors, and extend bilateral military cooperation, the Press Trust of India reported.

In their talks at the Kremlin, Singh and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also discussed other issues, including terrorism, PTI said.

"Today we have signed an agreement that broadens the reach of our cooperation beyond supplies of nuclear reactors to areas of research and development and a whole range of areas in nuclear energy," Singh told a news conference also attended by Medvedev, PTI reproted.

Under nuclear power cooperation, Russia will help set up four new nuclear reactors in India's southern Tamil Nadu. The defense agreements extended the two countries' existing military cooperation for another 10 years. The two sides also will cooperate in the joint development and production of multi-role transport aircraft for the armed forces, PTI said.

Separately, The Hindu newspaper reported the agreement with Russia goes beyond the agreement with the United States. The so-called "123 Pact" with United States would end the bilateral nuclear cooperation and require India to return U.S. equipment and fuel if the agreement were to be terminated.

The Hindu reported Medvedev made it clear Russia will not accept any foreign-imposed restrictions on its nuclear cooperation with India.