India to seek Russian cooperation in nuclear field

The Hindu ^ | Dec. 2, 2002

[Sawdring]

New Delhi, Dec. 2. (UNI): Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said India was seeking increased cooperation from Russia in the nuclear field and it could depend on Moscow during any crisis even though other nations were trying to place hurdles in the deepening relationship between the two nations.

"In the military field our cooperation is constantly growing. We depend a lot on our friend Russia. On a number of issues, in times of need, Russia has come to our help. It has been our endeavour that our cooperation in the nuclear field should increase," the Prime Minister said.

In an interview to ITAR-TASS, on the eve of Russian President Vladimir Putin's India visit, Vajpayee said India was able to get from Russia the technology it was not able to acquire from other countries and this was because of the faith that the two nations had in each other.

Vajpayee said he had a deep relationship with Putin. "He is a trusted friend and from this point of view, our personal relations help in strengthening political relations."

"Other countries try to place hurdles in the way. They do not want that the friendship between India and Russia should go deeper, or India should be provided with such technology, as they themselves do not like to part with. But we enjoy close relations with Russia and in this context we can depend on Russia during any crisis."

[Sawdring]

Any guess on who India and Russia think are putting the hurdles up?

[AM2000]

We all know who that is. It makes sense, too.. we don't really need the money as badly as the Russians do.

[Sawdring]

Do you think India could be counted on not to share military technology with Russia in the event the US decided to sell some to India?

[Aaron_A]

That's a moot point, because the Indians know they'll never get this technology. They could easily be running CANDU reactors than some Russian tech - but that isn't going to happen. I would rather see them generate bulk of their electricity from nuclear plants than coal.

(Even though I think the Canadians sold them recently to China.)

[AM2000]

Of course not.

[Sawdring]

I was thinking of military technology in general, like AWACS and so forth.