Russian security tsar to discuss sensitive issues in India

Secretary of Russia's National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev is scheduled to discuss a wide range of sensitive issues in bilateral cooperation during his talks with Indian leaders in New Delhi.

Patrushev is to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and hold parleys with National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon on sensitive issues like military-technical cooperation, interaction in energy, including civilian nuclear and hydrocarbons, space research, and international and regional security issues.

During meetings on Monday, Patrushev is expected to clear the situation about the last minute cancellation of joint naval war games by Russia in April.

Indian Ambassador to Russia Ajai Malhotra said the Russian navy had informed in mid-March about cancellation of the Indra 2011 naval war games due to the Japan disaster and denied that they were put off after the arrival of three warships of the Indian Navy to Vladivostok.

However, in an interview to RIA Novosti, Naval Chief Admiral Nirmal Verma had expressed his disappointment.

"Vladivostok is nearly 5,000 miles away from India. So for us to plan a deployment of ships all the way there takes a lot of planning and costs a lot of money to deploy ships at such distances," Admiral Verma told RIA Novosti.

"So to that extent, there was an element of disappointment where exercises were not held at the final stages," he added.